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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: Martins Addo <martins_addo0414@yahoo.co.in>
Reply-To: mar01_addo011@yahoo.fr
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:49:55 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Dearest one


Dearest one

I am Martins Addo, 20 years old from ivory coast.
Only child/Son of mrs Helen Addo.

I have 8.5 million USD which was made by my mother before she died in oct 2005 which is left in a suspence account in a bank here in my country. I seek your permision to remmit this amount into your account so that i could come to your country for investment and to further my studies.

I have accepted to offer you 20% of the total sum for your desire to assist me.Please do respond immediately you recieve this mail for more informations regarding the transfer.

My Best Regards
Martins Addo


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