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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: sen der <senderer7@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <msgsender@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2014 16:00:15 +0000
Subject: Urgent


Good day

Please don't be surprise to receive this letter; it is not a mistake. I am Solomon Lucky, the only son of late Mr and Mrs Lucky Coulibaly a cocoa and gold business merchant.
I have the sum of fourteen million dollars (USD14.000,000) which I inherited from my late parents. I wish to invest the fund in your country and also come over to continue my education over there.

You will assist me to transfer and invest the fund over there in your country, and I will reward you with 20% of the total fund for your help. Get back to me immediately if you are interested.

Regards
Solomon Lucky

Anti-fraud resources: