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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: "Maria Teresa" <wu@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: mariateresa44@msn.com
Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 02:43:45 +0100
Subject:

Dear Beloved,

I am Mrs. Maria Teresa Romero aging widow suffering from long time illness. I have some funds I inherited from my late husband, the sum of £703,000.00 GB Pounds. For a very personal reason, I needed a very honest and God fearing person that will use the fund for missionary work, I found your email address from the internet and decided to contact you. Please if you would be able to use the funds for the Lord's work, kindly reply me by introducing yourself. And I will explain why I need an anonymous individual outside my family.

Thanks and hope to hear from you soon, contact me with my private Email. mariateresa@wss-id.org

Yours in the Lord,
Maria Teresa Romero

Anti-fraud resources: