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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: "Dr.Thomas Gomez" <francescolasi@alice.it>
Reply-To: thomas.gomez48@yahoo.fr
Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 19:14:19 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Notice


Notice
There is an issue with the European Payments
Council in the amount of $1,500,000.00 dollars credited to your email
address. Your winning bank draft has been loaded into a Visa Credit Card which
you can use to withdraw your money from any ATM machine worldwide.
Your Visa Credit Card has been programmed by the issuing bank and registered
with our foreign representative office for delivery to your house
address through DHL courier express service. For further details and
clarification, contact our zonal coordinator with your
information for delivery. E-mail: (eupscom1@gmail.com) Mr. Martin Alums.

Anti-fraud resources: