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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: "Charles Vandi." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mail2charlesvandi@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2017 09:51:52 +0100
Subject: My Old Time Partner.

Dear Partner,
It's been twelve years since we last communicated which made it difficult for me to retrieve your email address, I had to beg the probate office for a recall of your profile since I was unable to reactivate my old email account. Please, forgive me for not being able to reach you before now, believe me if I say that my silence wasn't wilful; I made unrelenting efforts to give you statues of our unfinished proposition as it were, but all efforts were to no avail.
 
It is with great pleasure to inform you that my attempt to make you the beneficiary (Next of-Kin) of certain amount of money that was domiciled in a foreign bank was later accomplished with the assistance of a Chinese partner. I totally understood that your reservations as at that time were as a result of the skepticism of the inadequacies of unsolicited cyberspace businesses. However, I still appreciate those instrumental efforts your made at the preliminary stage of the transaction that did propel the swift release of the funds.
 
If you would remember that our initial arrangement was to invest part of the funds in your country once the fund has been warehoused in the custody of your account; eleven years down the line, I've successfully grown an empire from my little beginning as a mainstream petroleum marketer, cocoa farming and coffee exports to Asia in conjunction with some Chinese counterparts, and today I am a joint owner of three Oil Wells both In Nigeria and Carbon and I have Diamond exporting franchise from West Africa which is my core investment.
 
My conscience will not stop troubling me until I express my gratitude to you as a pioneer contributor In my success story today. I hereby advised that you contact my special assistant who I have instructed to expedite the delivery of my heartfelt gift to you. You can write to him via email and be advised to direct further inquires to him as he is looking forward to hearing from you.
 
Contact Name: Thomas Eso.
Email: email2excite47@gmail.com.
 
Thanks for your understanding.
Cheers!!
Charles Vandi.

Anti-fraud resources: