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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: "Xiang Li" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <xil33@yahoo.cn>
Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2012 16:06:51 -0000
Subject: Read Carefully

Attention,

Compliments of the day to you. By way of introduction, I am Xiang Li, Deputy Head, Operations Department of HuaXia Bank(China). I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this mail confidential and respect the integrity of the information you come by as a result of this mail.I have a business proposal which I believe would be of interest to you. It concerns a deceased client and an estate he left behind, without naming a beneficiary to There is Eight Million Three Hundred And Seventy Thousand United State Dollars deposited , I alone have the deposit details and they will release the deposit to no one unless I instruct them to do so. I alone know of the existence of this deposit for as far as HuaXia Bank is concerned, the transaction with our deceased customer concluded when I sent the funds to the firm, all outstanding interactions in relation to the file are just customer services and due process.

They are simply awaiting instructions to release the deposit to any party that comes forward. This is the situation. This bank has spent great amounts of money trying to track this man's family; they have investigated for months and have found no family. The investigation has come to an end.

My proposal; I am prepared to place you in a position to give instruction for the release of the deposit to you as the closest Surviving relation. Upon receipt of the deposit, I am prepared to share the money with you in half. That is: I will simply nominate you as the next of kin and have them release the deposit to you. We share the proceeds 50/50.. If its in your interest to proceed with the transaction, please respond to this email account I will give you a detailed account of the source and origin of the estate as well as the transaction proper. I anticipate your cooperation.

Regards,

Xiang Li.

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