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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: "zam tama" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <zamtama@live.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 19:06:29 -0100
Subject: Dear Friend,

Dear Friend,

A PLEASANT DAY


I am Zm Tama, from Bank of Africa. Firstly, accept my apologies, am the personal accountant to Dr. Ravindra F. Shah who died with his wife Mrs. Manjula Parikh-Shah in a plane crash on 1st Oct. 2003 on their way to Boston . i came across ($15.000,000USD) in his balance with our Bank (BOA) I want to first transfer $5,000.000( Five million USD) from this money into a safe account abroad, after which we will transfer the remaining (10M) but I don't know any foreigner.

However I am only contacting you as a foreigner because this money can not be approved to a local person here, without valid international foreign passport, but can only be approved to any foreigner with valid international passport or drivers license and foreign a/c because the money is in US Dollars and the former owner of the a/c Mr.Ravindra F. Shah is a foreigner too, now i want you to provide an account where this money will be transfer into for both of us, please kindly contact me immediately then I can clarify you more in details of this transaction. I look forward to your earliest reply .

In acceptance the following information stated below are required:


1)Your full name and address.
2)Your marrital status
3)Your occupation/Profession
4)Your direct telephone/Fax numbers
5)Your passport details for legal operations.

yours, Sincerely
Zam Tama
+229 660 15 909

Anti-fraud resources: