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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "huge amount of money" (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)
- "million 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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "united state of america" (this email uses bad English)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: GENERAL EDWARD THOMAS <davidbrucce@gmail.com>
Reply-To: generaledwardthomas@openmailbox.org
Date: Thu, 21 May 2015 03:14:05 -0700
Subject: AM WILLING TO INVEST WITH MY MONEY IN ANY PROFITABLE BUSINESS BUT I
DON'T HAVE IDEA ABOUT BUSINESS THAT IS WHY I NEED A PARTNER IF YOU ARE
INTERESTED KINDLY GET BACK TO ME

--

--
Dear Friend,

I am interested in establishing and operating a very viable business
as a means of investment abroad. I do not know too well on how this is
done in your country, So I will need you to help me in this regard.

My preference is any good profit yielding business and I would
appreciate any viable ideas you could come up with. I am proposing to
invest the sum of Twenty five Million United States Dollars
($25,000,000 USD) for this. I do not know if you can and will be of
help to me.

For a brief on my personality; I'm General, Edward Thomas, from South
Africa working with American Army in Texas United State Of America .
Am willing to invest with this huge amount of money in any profitable
business . If you can help me invest this money in any profitable
business kindly get back to me because am a military man don't have
idea of any Business that is why i need your assistance for the
investment project . If you are interested kindly get back to me
through my email address below : generaledwardthomas@openmailbox.org

Best Regards,

Gen. Edward Thomas

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam