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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: Robert Bednarz <robertbednarz8@btinternet.com>
Reply-To: robertbednarz8@yahoo.fr
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:15:47 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: From Robert Bednarz .


>From Robert Bednarz .
 
Good day and compliment,This Letter might come as a surprise to you, especially since we have never met or discussed before. But Please accept my humble apologies if I had caught you unawares I frankly do not mean any harm to ask for you assistance, my name is Robert Bednarz, From Sudan. My late father was the deputy general manager with CNPC Oil Company at the Khartoum refinery in Sudan who was killed alongside with my beloved mother and our family house burnt down by the rebels during the last crisis in my country when Janjaweed militant came to our house.
 
 
During my late Father time in office, he made a deposited of Four Million Seven Hundred Thousand U.S dollars ($4.7m) oversea with Vault Company Abidjan Cote D’Ivoire before his death, which I am the next of kin, the situation becomes on controllable on me, I decided to contact you to assist me release this money from the vault company and invest it for a good and lucrative business in your country.
 
 If you accept to assist me as I requested, I will be pleased to offer you 20% of the total fund, please respond upon receipt of this message for more information, because, I am presently at refugee camp in Cote d’Ivoire.where the vault company located.
 
 
I wait for your quick response on this regard.
 
Sincerely
Mr. Robert Bednarz

Anti-fraud resources: