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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: MICROSOFT OFFICE <wilsons.morris1@gmail.com>
Reply-To: wilsons.morris@outlook.com
Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2014 12:13:45 +0200
Subject: GOOD DAY

I am Mr. Wilson Morris of MICROSOFT Office.

Your e-mail account appeared among the lucky winners with winning
number MX026583, who will receive a winning payment of $8.5 Million US
Dollars and has been approved already for weeks.

However, we received an email from one Mrs. Virgie Brown who told us
that she is your next of kin and that you died in a car accident last
week. She has also submitted her account for us to transfer your
winning to her. We want to confirm if you are dead before we can make
the transfer.

Please in confirmation that you are still alive, you are advised to
reconfirm the below listed information to enable us facilitate an
immediate payment for you.

1: Your full names.
2: Your present contact address.
3: Your telephone & Fax numbers.
4 Your Occupation/age/sex.
5: Your Private Email Address.

Once again, I apologize to you on behalf of MICROSOFT group for
failure to pay your winning in time, which according to records in the
system had been long overdue.

Thanks,
Mr. Wilson Morris.
wilsons.morris@outlook.com

Anti-fraud resources: