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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "CBN POLICE DEPARTMENT" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <cbn_police2011@mail.kz>
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:31:27 +0100
Subject: Message from the CBN Police


ANTI-FRAUD UNIT,
23,WELLINGTON DRIVE,
ASO ROCK VILLA,
FCT,
ABUJA-NIGERIA.
Attn: Account Owner,

The men,Mark Edwards,Mr.John Maluife, including their cohorts,Dr.Williams Stevenson,Barr.Ebuwa Johnson who specializes in scamming foreign beneficiaries of hard currencies has been arrested by men of operatives of this Commission.The hoodlums,before their arrest had been impersonating both the former and current Governors of Central Bank of Nigeria,Finance Ministers,key government officials in Nigeria,some Nigerian banks and non-existent lottery organizations at various times in a bid to obtain money from their unsuspecting victims abroad under false pretences.They confessed to have used various fictitious names to carry out this criminal act.They were also said to have had access to vital documents of their unsuspecting victims at the CBN where they worked before they were sacked because of gross misconduct.

Documents recovered from them includes Nigerian International passports and Drivers Licences with different fictitious names,deposit and withdrawal vouchers bearing their real names.These International passports and Driver's Licences were believed to have been used at different ocassions to receive money as transfer charges from their unsuspecting victims.The activities of these criminals were exposed by CBN top officials who reported that they duped you and some foreign beneficiaries of certain amount of monies.

When they were forced to open their Email boxes,which they did without reluctance,their assertions were confirmed.It was during this course that we came across your correspondences and Email address based on the Tip off from the CBN hence we decided to contact you through this channel for confirmation.

While making their statements under caution, they confessed to the crime and promised to refund all the money they collected from you.We discovered that they have domiciliary accounts(dollar account) with some Commercial Banks here in Nigeria where they deposited some of the money they collected from you.

We await your confirmation of this to enable us prosecute them and repatriate your money.

Yours faithfully,
Miss.Mana Mercy.
Public Relations Officer.

Anti-fraud resources: