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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: Florence Edward <arawahara@yahoo.co.jp>
Reply-To: Florence Edward <mrsfloranceedward@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 22:40:05 +0900 (JST)
Subject: READ AND GET BACK TO US


My Dear
Beloved,
 
May you
have peace as you read this message and have the sprit of pity and sincere upon
my present condition, I am Mrs. Florence Edward. I am a widow from France; my
husband was the deputy director of Coco farm agriculture in West Africa.  And he was killed by the rebels during
political crisis here on October 2010.  I
am now in West Africa where my late husband deposited this fund. The reason why
I am writing you this letter is because of my inheritance fund that my late
husband deposited under a bank here, which was under my name as the
beneficiary; the amount is the sum of €9.5Million Euros (Nine Million Five
Hundred thousand Euros) I have only one Son, who is still little and with me
right here.
 
Now, I have
decided to invest this fund where none of my late husband relatives will be
aware of this fund. I will like to invest the fund in your country or anywhere
for security and political reasons. I want you to assist me claim and retrieve
this fund into your personal account in your country for investment purposes.
 
Kindly
provide me with your details; your full Name, Your home address and your direct
telephone number and if possible with any of your ID. I believe as you
accepted  to help me and my son, you will
not have any sprit to betray my trust. The documents of this deposit are with
me and the bank director who knows my late husband has confirmed that the fund
is still save with their bank.
 
I await
your immediate response with your details
 
Sincerely
Mrs Florence Edward.

Anti-fraud resources: