419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

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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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "hundred thousand united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- ",500,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: DEVELOPMENT_BANK_AFRICAN <bweleeze@yahoo.pt>
Reply-To: DEVELOPMENT_BANK_AFRICAN <AFRICAN_DEVELOPMENT_BANKING@t-online.de>
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2015 18:45:00 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: NOTIFICATION INFORMATION FROM AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK FOREIGN
ACCOUNTS!

Â
ATTENTION:NOTIFICATION FROM AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK !!
THIS IS TO NOTIFY YOU THAT YOUR FUNDS VALUED TEN MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS (U.S. $10,500,000.00) HAS BEEN RELEASED TODAY TO THE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANKÂ
FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE, YOU WILL HAVE TO TRANSFER, WITHIN 24HOURS ONLINE BY YOURSELF TO YOUR LOCAL ACCOUNT, BY OF THIS METHOD; YOU WILL MONITOR THE MOVEMENT OF THE LOCAL FUNDS ONLINE TILL YOUR ACCOUNT IS DULY CREDITS.
CONTACT THE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK TO PROVIDE YOUR PERSONNEL WITH THE LOGIN DETAIL SO YOU CAN COMMENCE THE TRANSFER BY YOURSELF,
CONTACT PERSON:DR. USMAN BELLOAFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANKÂ EMAILÂ (AFRICAN_DEVELOPMENT_BANKING@t-online.de)
SINCERELY,Â
MR.RUBEN MAXWELLÂ

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam