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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: "Frank .E. James" <frankegom7@mailbox.hu>
Reply-To: frankegom@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2008 18:12:32 +0100
Subject: Urgent Please Reply....................ASP


Greetings!

Do accept my apologies if my mail does not meet your personal ethics, I want
to introduce myself and this business opportunity to you. My name is
Barrister Frank .E. James, a solicitor at law. I wish to know if we can work
together.

I would like you to stand as the beneficiary-in-title to my deceased client
who made some deposits to a bank. He died without any registered next of kin
and as such the funds now have an open beneficiary mandate.

Fortunately, I am the processing attorney so it will be very easy o make you
become his official next of kin. If you are interested you do let me know so
that I can give you comprehensive details on what we are to do.

I urgently hope to get your response as soon as possible and with the
details as bellow;

Your full names
Tel/Fax Number
Address
Country
Occupation
Age

Best regards,
Frank .E. James.

Anti-fraud resources: