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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: "Lucia Corrao" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lp496299@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2023 23:24:12 -0700
Subject: Re:Hello,

Hello,

I came across your contact in my desperate quest to successfully locate the next of kin to an account file forwarded to my desk for liquidation. I am Mrs Lucia Corrao, I work with the legal department of a financial institution. My job here is to see that any unclaimed account is certified and confirmed UNCLAIMED before final liquidation instruction is passed on any such account file.
There is an investment opportunity in respect of existing funds presently without any claim till date. Please get back to me on my direct email address and I will give you the full details of my proposal.
My email address is: lp496299@gmail.com
I will await your positive response to this message as soon as possible.

Warm Regards,
Lucia Corrao

Anti-fraud resources: