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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: "CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <info@cenbank-atm.org>
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 04:10:22 -0700
Subject: DEAR VALUED BENEFICIARY.

DEAR VALUED BENEFICIARY,

FROM THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING HELD TODAY AT THE PRESIDENCY,
I WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR CONTRACT/INHERITANCE FILES HAS BEEN VERIFIED AND
A PART PAYMENT OF $5.5M USD HAS BEEN APPROVED IN YOUR FAVOR AND CREDITED TO
ATM CARD. PLEASE RECONFIRM YOUR FULL NAMES, AGE, OCCUPATION, CELL PHONE AND
YOUR MAILING ADDRESS TO AVOID DELIVERY ERROR.

THANKS,
MR. JOHN WALLACE.
DIRECTOR ATM CARD DEPT
CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA.
EMAIL: info@cenbank-atm.org
TEL: +234-814-489-9609

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