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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: "Joseph Smith" <sjossys@mail.com>
Reply-To: sjossys@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2016 03:42:09 -0300 (BRT)
Subject: Exclusive for you.





Attn:

Naturally, this letter will come to you as a surprise since we have not
met, permit me however to introduce myself; I am a white Zimbabwean
Farmer, currently in hiding in Zimbabwe. I have funds ($18.5M) to invest
in your country. I am reaching you as the need for me to have a foreign
partner in your country has become necessary due to my plans to relocate
to that country so that I can purchase some land and start farming all
over again.

If you are interested and willing to assist me (for a 15% commission),
please contact me as soon as possible for more details. I will give you
more details when I hear from you. You can click on the links below to get
a better understanding of my situation and why I need to move out my
money:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1068528.stm

Best Regards,
Joseph Smith.

Anti-fraud resources: