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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: stephen wright <fpar.org@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2017 08:33:07 +0100
Subject: Lost Family

Contact me at: <agra.org.uk@gmail.com>

Hello,

I'm Stephen Wright. A family researcher and member of the Association
of Genealogists and Researchers (AGR) here in the United Kingdom. We
are detectives Heir Hunters looking for a distant relative of a
deceased person without the precise contact details of family members
regarding unclaimed funds deposited in a bank here in the UK. The AGR
is a state-controlled holding organization to search for and find
missing or unknown foreign heirs who can claim a specific sum of
£9,000,000.00 (£ 9 million) belonging to a client who died an
intestate and before the Scotts could reverse the money discovered as
public funds. The search for foreign beneficiaries of this unclaimed
inheritance was proven unsuccessful and after several unsuccessful
attempts, I decided to follow his surname on the Internet to locate a
member, therefore I contacted you. I have been unable to locate
foreign parents/relatives For years now, instead of losing everything,
I ask for your consent to introduce yourself as a member of a family
since you have the same last name. If you can accept, you will receive
30% of this amount after working as a reward price while 70% will be
mine. I have all the necessary legal documents that covered the
filing, so all I need is your honesty to allow us to succeed in
secret.

I can guarantee that this will be performed as part of a legitimate
arrangement that will protect you from any violation of law ok.pls
Contact me at: <agra.org.uk@gmail.com>

Regards,
Stephen Wright

Anti-fraud resources: