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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: Vanice Mensah <vanicmensah@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2014 00:09:55 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Hello


Hello.

I am Mr.Vanice Mensah,
a Manager with a Bank, I was personally in charge of the deposit made
by one of our customer late Mr.Mark, who till his death was a contractor
with Our Government and an Oil Merchant dealer.
 
On the 21st of
April 2009, Mr.Mark, his wife and their two children were involved in a
boat capsize and all occupants of the boat unfortunately lost their
lives.
 
At the time of his death, he had a deposit of US $ 8.3M
(Eight Million, Three Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) which was
proceed of a contract work he just concluded with The Government before
the unfortunate incident.
 
Unfortunately, till this moment no person has come as his relation for this deposit with us.
 
I humbly request your attention to this matter so that I can present you as his next of kin and beneficiary to this deposit.
 
It is not a very difficult thing to do and it will not take time.
 
I will give you details as soon as you reach me.
 
Kind Regards.

Mr.Vanice Mensah.

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