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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: michael hoffman <michaelhoffman20011@gmail.com>
Reply-To: michaelhoffman00221@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:34:25 +0200
Subject: REQUEST FOR CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP.


Dear sir/madam



REQUEST FOR CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

I apologies for this surprise mail to you but please I really need your
assistance.

Please, review into your mail attachment to read the mail send to you and
kindly get back to me



I am looking forward to your urgent response



Sincerely yours,

MR. MichaelHoffman.

Anti-fraud resources: