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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: "Margaret Sawers" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <d.gary42@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2010 09:40:51 +0800
Subject: Confidential

Dear Sir/Madam,

Greetings in the name of God, I am Margaret Sawers from Australia married to
to Roland Sawers an Australian who worked with a Saudi Arabian oil company in Asia.
But before his death during tsunami disaster, we were married but without
Children and after his death i fell sick and the doctor diagnosed that i have
cancer of the lungs, that I have just few months to live.

I am contacting you in view of the fact that we could be of great assistance to
each other, likewise developing a cordial relationship towards helping the poor
and the less privileged,
Best regards
Margaret Sawers

Anti-fraud resources: