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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: "Mrs. Brun" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <cristi1537bru@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2018 07:08:16 -0400
Subject: URGENT BIZ ASSISTANCE]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am glad to take the chance to introduce my self to you.
I am Mrs. Cristina Bruno, the Administrative Manager at
financial and security vault of Institute here in Spain.

I am contacting you based on a financial opportunity I
discovered here in our Bank. It's about an abandoned sum
of $12.3M United States Dollars only, that belongs to one
of our foreign investor, a citizen of People's Republic of
China (PRC) who died along with his wife and two daughters
aged 12 and 9, during his vacation by a fatal bus accident
on Monday May 7 2007, has killed 17 people and injured 25
in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

Since then, I have made several inquiries to your embassy here
to locate any of our clients extended relatives, this has also
proved unsuccessful. This man has been living in Spain for
more than 18 years without returning to his hometown.

I am contacting you to cooperate/assist in repatriating the
funds valued at $12.3M United States Dollars left behind by
our deceased client to you before it gets confiscated or
declared unserviceable by the Spanish Government due to the
Economics crisis here in the country.

I assure you that this transaction is risk free and its success
is 100% guaranteed, I am prepared to compensate you with a 40%
share of the total funds for your assistance, and 10% will be
mapped out to offset any expenses during the transaction. The
final details will be given upon receipt an affirmation of your
desire to assist me. For more details contact me on my email:
cristi1537bru@gmail.com

Best Regards,
Mrs. Cristina Bruno

Anti-fraud resources: