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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: "Miss Megan Moore" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <meganmoore@postino.net>
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 09:45:55 -0700
Subject: HERE IS THE SOLUTION TO YOUR FINANCIAL PROBLEM.

My Dear,

My name is Miss Megan Moore, 29 years old, a citizen of Ghana. I am a computer analyst with central Bank of Nigeria. I just started work with central Bank of Nigeria.
(C.B.N.) My Dear, I came across your payment file which was Marked X and your Fund Release Hard Disk painted Red, I took my time to study it and found out that you

have really attempted to receive the funds without success till now. The most annoying thing is that the directors and top officials of this nation cannot tell you the

truth that on no account will they ever release the fund to you; instead they will let you spend moneyunnecessarily.

I swear with my life, I can release this funds to you if you can certify me of my security and how I can run away from this country (Nigeria) if I do this for you, I

do not intend to work here all the days of my life and I cannot run back to Ghana as this Bank have all my information in Ghana, and if I don't run away from this

Country after I making the transfer to your bank account, I will may be in trouble or my life will be in danger.

The only thing I will need to release this fund is a special Hard Disk, we call it HD120 GIG. I will buy two of it, recopy your information, and destroy the previous

one, and punch the computer to reflect in your bank account within 24 banking hours. I will clean up the tracer and destroy your file. As soon as this deal is

completed, I will run away from here Nigeria to meet with you in your country if you are interested. But you must assure me the absolute confidentiality of this deal

before I can do anything further.

Do get in touch with me immediately.

You should reconfirm your current information as follows for proper transfer documentation in your name.

Your Full Names:
Your Current Home Address:
Current Telephone Numbers for easy communication:

Bank Full Name and Address:
Active Bank details where you want the fund to be transferred into:
Your Full Names on the Account:
A/C No:
Swift/Routing No:

Regards,

Miss Megan Moore
Computer Analyst
Central Bank of Nigeria

Anti-fraud resources: