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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: "Executive Secretary" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <us_treasurydeptpay@accountant.com>
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2018 06:42:13 -0700
Subject: Update Status!!!

ATTENTION: Did you authorize Mrs. Beletha Heiser?

We received an email from one Mrs. Beletha Heiser, stating that she is your sister and you have given her permission to claim your inheritance funds worth the sum of $10,7,000,000.00 USD ( Ten Million Seven Hundred Thousand United State Dollars).

For security reasons, We decided to contact you for verification before proceeding with the next step for a wire transfer direct into her designated bank account, Can you please respond back to this email so we can have this matter resolved and go ahead with the necessary instructions.

Regards,
Steven T. Mnuchin.
Executive Secretary,
United States Treasury Department

Anti-fraud resources: