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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: "Thomas Walkman" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <thomaswalkmanlaw@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2016 15:54:33 +0100
Subject: Dear Friend

Good day!

My name is Mr. Thomas Walkman; I am a senior banker in a bank here in the United Kingdom and i am contacting you because of my late client. His account has been dormant in our Bank for many years, because he did not mention any Next of Kin when his account was opened.

I seek your consent to present you to the Bank as my late client Next of Kin so that his Thirteen Million Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand dollars can be transferred to your account.

However, i assure you that this transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law both in your country and here in UK once the fund is transferred to your bank account.

Please treat this business proposal with utmost confidentiality and write back to this email THOMASWALKMANLAW@GMAIL.COM for further details for this transfer only if you are interested.

Regards,
Thomas Walkman
EMAIL: THOMASWALKMANLAW@GMAIL.COM


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