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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: "World Bank Treasury" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <paymaster@grantpayments.org>
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2012 19:12:05 +0100
Subject: Product Enquiry

Dear Sir,
  
I am Mrs.Sandra Cole from creative-cat Company and wish to send our purchase order to your company.
  
Please click this link below to view the sample of the products we want
and also state to us if your company can produce same product,so that we can send our purchase order  
 
immediately.
  
  
Please note that you have to login with your email and password to view product samples.
  
Best Regards,
  
Mrs.Sandra Cole
creative-cat Company
Toledo - Pilkington North America Inc.
811 Madison Avenue Toledo OH 43604-5684

Anti-fraud resources: