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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:

Fraud email example:

From: "Jacob Wise" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <almons@netzero.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2017 17:45:18 -0800
Subject: Overdue Payment!!!

Attention: Customer,
 
We are private debt reconciliation consultant and have been retained by the Bank of England to help reconcile all outstanding payments. They include, contract payments, inheritance/probate claim, investment, lotto pay out, etc.
 
In the course of our evaluation we received an urgent notice from one Mr. Jeffrey Howard of Canada instructing that we
forward your payment to a new bank account in which he is the beneficiary. For our verification, kindly email us a letter of
authorization given to Mr. Jeffrey Howard to receive your payment on your behalf.
 
Note, your earlier payment approvals have been placed on hold until we receive an acknowledgement of this email from you.
 
Your sincerely,
Dr Jacob A Wise

Anti-fraud resources: