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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: =?iso-8859-1?Q?am=E9gnon__yawo_sowou?= <sowouamegnon@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Sep 2016 06:46:43 +0000
Subject: Greetings


Greetings,
Please accept my apologies I do not wish to invade into your privacy,
I am writing to you about my late client , who bears the same surname
with you, Since his death I have received several letters from his
Bank where he made a deposit of $6.7 Million before his death. I will
provide you more specific information as soon as you respond.
Yours,
Sir.Sowou (Esq)



Anti-fraud resources: