419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

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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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "million dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- info.unicreditb@pisem.net (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Charles H. Martins" <fileoffice757393@yahoo.pt>
Reply-To: "Mr. Charles H. Martins" <info.unicreditb@pisem.net>
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 11:23:28 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Contact: Mr Charles Martin of the Universal Credit Bank (UCB) for
Immediate transfer of your fund,

Â Attention

I am hereby trying to keep you validate about your total sum of $2.8 million dollars, which you have expected to receive so far, has been forwarded to our Universal Credit Bank (UCB) and all the instruction has been released to us for urgently transfer of your fund, $2.8 million dollars, into your banking account. Furthermore, here is the information to use for contacting Bank Director in order to reconfirm your full banking detail info again for the transfer purpose.

Contact: Mr Charles Martin,
Director for International Wire Transfer Affairs
Of { UCB }
E-mail: info.unicreditb@pisem.net

Regards,
Mr. Charles Martin.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam