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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: "Tony B" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <elempayara@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 6 May 2015 02:35:24 +0100
Subject: YOU CAN BE PART OF THE PROJECT.

Hi, How are you?
I pray this message find you in perfect health and good state of mind;
Kindly get back to me at your convenient time, i have a very important and confidential investment proposal to discuss with you.
You may wonder why i'm contacting you; but my reason is simple, the investment target is in your country for period of 5-10 years with an option for extension,
therefore i decided to contact you so that we can discuss about it, if we have a yes and agree on the terms, we can proceed.Provide a phone number or skype ID.
Waiting to hear from you,
Regards,
Tony B.

Anti-fraud resources: