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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: "MR GREG WILLIAMS"<mrgregw84@gmail.com>
Reply-To: <mrgregwilliamss@indamail.hu>
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2023 01:35:42 -0700
Subject: URGENT AND IMPORTANT..123

Good day
 
It is with trust and confidence and for who you are in the society that I write to make this urgent business proposal to you. I was assigned by two of my colleagues to seek  for  a reliable partner who will assist us in providing a convenient account in any designated bank for the transfer of $35,500,000.00.
 
This amount resulted from a deliberate inflation of Contract Value awarded by our Department - The Department of Agriculture (USDA) to an expatriate Company (precisely Deere machinery USA Inc for supply of Agricultural Tractors/ Machinery).
 
The contract was executed and payment made to them, remaining the over-invoiced amount of $35.5 million, which we want to transfer now in your favor for disbursement among ourselves. The transfer of this money can only be possible with the help of a trusted Partner who will be presented as the beneficiary of the fund.
 
As government officials, we are not allowed to operate foreign accounts, hence the need to contact you. We have agreed that 35% of the total sum will be for you for providing the account while 5% will be set aside for the expenses incurred during the cost of transfer of the fund into your account, while 60% will be reserved for us.
 
We hereby solicit for your assistance in providing a convenient account where this fund would be transferred. For security reasons we demand that you keep this proposal and the entire transaction confidential and to yourself alone.
 
Rest assured that this transaction is 100% risk free, and I am on standby to give more details as you may require.
 
 
Looking forward to hearing from you.
 
Regards,
Greg Williams
Deputy Director, (Fed Mins.of Agriculture)

Anti-fraud resources: