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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <swbn@gmx.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:06:54 -0700
Subject: YOUR KIND ATTENTION

Dear friend,

I am Bina, a young girl of 19 years presently in Ghana, an orphan. I have a deposited fund worth $5.5 Million USD deposited by my late father here in a security safe company in Ghana. I want you to be my foreign beneficiary and legal partner.

I want to invest my funds there in your country and also come over to continue my education.

Kindly furnish me your full name, address and also your contact number, so that I will prepare all relevant documents with the assistance of my lawyer here to effect the release of the fund to you.

Waiting to hear from you.

Regards,
Bina.

Anti-fraud resources: