419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (YYYY-MM)

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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "money gram" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
MoneyGram money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. Along with Western Union it is a preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.

Fraud email example:

From: David kelly <"www."@polka.ocn.ne.jp>
Reply-To: David kelly <davidkely2025@outlook.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2017 02:16:18 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Hello! please go through this message and get back to us
immediately, THANK YOU

Dear Customer,
We are here to inform you We have 2.76million USD that is on line in our office, this money was sent in Africa in 2015 by a man named James Oleg from America, the money is on hold since then waiting to see the receiver to know why this money is coming to him, the IMF place it on hold to see the receiver, till now we haven't seen the receiver and we couldn't found the sender too.

Now the money is on hold for that reason it cannot be pick up in any way in Africa, because the receiver is no where to be found.

Now the IMF order the head office to send the money back to America, since the sender is no where to be found, the money can be send to any one who is ready to receive it in America.

Your email was found in the money gram transfer email list, maybe you have sent money before through money gram.

We sent you this message to know if you are to receive this money?

Your receiver information is need to proceed in transferring this money to you.

For more information:
Call this number if you are ready to receive this money or you reply back, +12034470429

Thank you my name is David Kelly agent from money gram.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam