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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: Markus Bala <markusbala282@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Markus Bala <pabamark1@seznam.cz>
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2015 16:27:55 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Business Affair


                                                                Attention:  I am Mr. Markus Bala, a Personal Attorney to Late chemical engineer
 and a major shareholder in an oil & Gas company here in Benin. On the
 July 17, 2014, my late client, her husband and their only child were
 involved in Malaysia Airlines MH17 Plane Crash in Ukraine. Since then I have made several inquiries to locate any of my client's
 extended relatives, but this has proved unsuccessful.
www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ukraine-plane-crash. I am under pressure to present someone whom the funds will be transferred to
 So I'm contacting you to assist in repatriating the fund from the
 financial institution's custody before it gets confiscated or declared
 unserviceable, so I seek your consent to present you as the heir to
 the deceased.
 The value of this account 18.5 Million Euros, and it will be
 transferred to you,
 and thereafter it will be shared 45% for me and 45% for you and
 10% will be mapped out for any expenses made during the transfer process. Send me your contact details/mobile telephone number so i can call you
 to give you the procedures, also note that the funds will be
 transferred within 10 days. Yours Sincerely,
 Barrister Markus Bala

Anti-fraud resources: