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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: "Katie" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jeffloveforyou@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2017 23:29:18 +0200
Subject: Good day Esteemed Friend,

Good day Esteemed Friend,
 
I am Capt. Katie Jeffery of the US Army currently in Afghanistan for peace keeping, I found your contact details via corporate search. I am actually seeking your assistance to evacuate the sum of $5,500,000.00 (Five Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) to you for safe keeping and investment purposes as long as I am assured that it will be safe in your care until I complete my service here in Afghanistan.
 
This is not stolen money and there are no risks involved. During our mission in Afghanistan, we found Stash of money that ran into millions of dollars and before returning the money to Afghan government we kept some money which we shared among those that went for the operation and I got total sum of $5,500,000.00 million dollars which I lodged in one of the local security house here through the help of a commercial firm because of fear of being questioned on how I got such amount of money as I am still on service. Now I count on your understanding, cooperation and honesty.
 
Please get back to me via my personal email / jeffloveforyou@gmail.com ) only if you can sponsor and handle this transaction.
 
Your urgent response will facilitate this process.
 
Best Regards.
Capt. Katie (Mrs)

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