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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: Hugh Quinn <hughqunn@gmail.com>
Reply-To: q_hugh@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2015 12:11:04 +0300
Subject: Business Proposal

From: External Auditor.
The International Remittance Department
No. 70 Wig-more Ave. W1U 2SF, London UK.

Attention Please..

Hello, please do accept my sincere apologies if my mail does not meet
your personal ethics although, I wish to use this medium to get in
touch with you first because it's fastest means . My name is Hugh
Quinn,an external auditor of a well known bank here in UK. I have
decided to contact you urgently on a very important confidential deal
which needs immediate attention.

The decision to contact you was based on the fact that I trust your
capability to receive on our behalf a sum of £48,000.000.00 {Forty
Eight Million British Pounds Sterling} this sum in question was a
credit balance of our customer, though a Foreigner who died since 6th
of AUGUST 2005. This credit was held with our bank here in England for
years before he dies and the Director of Account Operations
approached me since he cannot transfer this fund alone without going
through my desk ( i.e. The International Remittance Department). With
my position and experience, I have worked out the modalities in such
a way that the transaction will be accomplished. On the receipt of
your approvals, I will be very much glad to give you the complete
details of the business.

This may come as a surprise to you but as we progress, I will be able
to explain to you how everything will go smoothly without any
problem. Meanwhile, I am 100% positive if you can handle this
transaction. Therefore contact me as soon as you receive this message
with your full names/personal data, and your Mobile Telephone Number/s
so that I can call you for heart to heart discussion about the
business. I am anticipating your immediate response while thanking you
in advance for your understanding and co-operation.

Yours Sincerely,

Hugh Quinn

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