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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: Ben Ham <benham_00@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:49:30 -0800
Subject: Am interested in your item at craigslist...




Hello Seller,
My name is Denis Wise and am highly
interested in purchasing
your item and will be willing to pay you via check and I will want
you to answer
the following question below before the payment will be issued
out.
1)Do you accept check as your payment method
2)Do you accept home
pick up
3)Will you be able to send the remaining funds on the check back to
the shipping
company that will come for the pick up of the item in your house
?
4)If yes kindly get back to me with your full name and contact address for
the
payment to be issued out asap and i may not get back to you till
monday and i will
want you to email me your information as soon as you can so that
the check will
be issued out on monday .
I await your swift
responce
_________________________________________________________________
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Anti-fraud resources: