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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: Alpha comp <alpha_commpany@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2014 03:47:08 -0800 (PST)
Subject: From Captain James Moten

>From Captain James Moten
Attn,
I am Captain James Moten with the United states marines in Iraq on war against terrorism.Based on the United States legislative and executive decision for withdrawing troops from Iraq due to the World economy crisis,we the soldier's here in Iraq are so glad because arrangements has been made already for our pull out of Iraq.
While the war was going on here in Iraq,It happened that a substantial amount of cash was recovered from one of our raids on terrorist hide out,I have in my possession the sum of USD$ 5 .2 million and I want to invest this funds,

This is the main reason why I have contacted you to assist me in this transaction after which I am willing to settle you with 30% of the total sum.You will advice me on the business to invest in since I am not business oriented. I want to move this money to your destination for you to safe keep it for me until am out of Iraq ,so I need someone I could trust.If you accept then we can proceed.
I am American and an intelligence officer,so I have a 100% authentic means of transferring the money through a red cross diplomat. I just need your acceptance and all is done. If you are interested in this transaction I will give to you the complete details you need for us to carry out this transaction successfully.

I believe I can trust you. Presently we can only communicate through our military communication facilities which are secured so nobody can monitor our emails,I will only reach you through email, because our calls might be monitored, I just have to be sure whom I am dealing with.
I wait for your response so we can proceed immediately because In less than 5 days the money should be in your safe custody.
Please do reply me.

Regards
Capt.James Moten.

Anti-fraud resources: