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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

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

Fraud email example:

From: "MR. PAUL BOWMEN" <w_ucn@rocketmail.com>
Reply-To: western_union2014@hotmail.com
Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2014 10:22:25 +0600 (BDT)
Subject: WESTERNER UNION MONEY TRANSFER




ATTN:CUSTOMER,
FUND TRANSFER OF $5,000:00 USD INFORMATION REACHING US FROM OUR CORPORATE
HEADQUARTERS NOW, STATES THAT YOU ONLY HAVE 48HOURS TO EFFECT PAYMENT FOR
THE ACTIVATION OF YOUR MTCN TO ENABLE YOU CASH UP YOUR FIRST PAYMENT OF
$5,000:00 FROM YOUR TOTAL (1.5M SINCE YOU ARE FINDING IT DIFFICULT TO MAKE
THIS PAYMENT WE HAVE DECIDED THAT YOU ARE TO GO AHEAD AND PAY ANY AMOUNT
FOR THE ACTIVATION FEE SINCE YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO COME UP WITH THE REQUIRED
SUM, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE HERE.
YOU ARE TO PAY ANY AMOUNT FOR ACTIVATION OF YOUR MTCN; WE WILL ACTIVATE
YOUR MTCN UPON RECEIPT OF THIS PAYMENT.BE INFORMED THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO
PAY THE
BALANCE SUM OF YOUR ACTIVATION UPON CASHING UP OF YOUR FIRST 5,000:00
USD, ALSO I AM USING THIS MEDIUM TO INFORM YOU THAT FAILURE TO PAY THE
BALANCE SUM WILL
LEAVE US WITH NO OPTION BUT TO DEACTIVATE YOUR MTCN OF WHICH YOU WILL AND
CAN NEVER CASH UP THE BALANCE SUM I WANT YOU TO SEND THE NEEDED ACTIVATION
FEE WITH THE INFORMATION BELLOW.
RECEIVER NAME: PETER M CHUKWUMA
CITY/COUNTRY: LAGOS-NIGERIA
TEXT QUESTION: TODAY
ANSWER: GOD IS GOOD
MTCN:......................
SENDERS FULL DETAILS..........................................
SEND US ALL THE TRANSFER DETAILS IMMEDIATELY YOU SEND THE MONEY AND
IMMEDIATELY WE CONFIRM THE TRANSFER FEE WE WILL SEND YOU THE FIRST RECEIPT
OF YOUR $5,000:00 TODAY AND NOT TOMORROW.
MY DIRECT PHONE LINE IS +2348108097683
EMAIL ADDRESS: western_union2014@hotmail.com
FROM WESTERN UNION OFFICE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA FOR YOUR PAYMENT
MR. PAUL BOWMEN

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