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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: "USMAN MARTINS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <usmanmartins@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 07:06:01 -0000
Subject: YOUR OUTSTANDING FUND

How are you today?
This is to notify you that your case was presented to us and was deliberated upon Last Monday during the ongoing National Economic Summit of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the presence of the president, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, the Honorable Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Mr. Godwin Emefiele the new head of the Central Bank Nigeria (CBN) and other key economic policy matters.
It was discovered to the dismay of all participants that your payment has been unnecessarily delayed despite been cleared by the authorized Financial regulatory bodies and It was also discovered that some unscrupulous individuals aiming to frustrating all your efforts have removed some vital documents from your payment file.
However, a 7-man harmonization, normalization, notarization, computerization and re-documentation committee has been set up to finally perfect all the necessary documentation to that effect and they have concluded their job. Everything is ready to go.
After much strict scrutiny on your file, we discovered that some top government officials in Nigeria especially in banks are working against your interest in this case. To forestall any further atrocious act against you, we have decided to go into a pact with reputable Banks in USA to settle your payment.
You are to contact me immediately for the setting up of your accredited payment access code number, password and allocation of foreign exchange for your Payment through the nominated bank.
Contact me via email: usmanmartins@yahoo.com
Best Regards
Mr. Usman Martins
+2348133285260
Foreign operations
Federal Ministry of Finance

Anti-fraud resources: