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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "mr.kenneth thomson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <kenthomson@zmail.com>
Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2012 09:39:40 -0800
Subject: ATT DEAR.

ATT DEAR.
 
How are you i hope fine together with you and your family which is the most important thing in the world before wealth?
Please I am the Senior Bank Secretary officer in HSBC BANK LONDON and I discovered some amount of money in my bank and it was over calculated FUND in my bank and this money generated from the POLITICIANS in AFRICA and my Bank is not aware of it and that is reason I am passing this information to you before my Bank will sit on top of it.
Meanwhile the Amount was only (?5m) Five Million British Pounds Sterling Only, please never you be scared of this it is real and what I need is,your FULL NAME,SEX,AGE,COUNTRY,CELL PHONE NUMBER, OCCUPATION, to enable us proceed accordingly for the release.
 
REGARDS
MR.KENNETH THOMSON

Anti-fraud resources: