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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: "Elizabeth Tanoh" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrstanoh@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2017 08:00:19 -0700
Subject: Hello,

Hello,

Nice to meet you.My name is Mrs Elizabeth Tanoh.I am 29 years old i Married Mr Francois Tanoh from Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory-Coast).
I really need your assistance.My husband died three years ago and the family members want to kill me and my children and sit on the inheritance he left for us with the bank.
I am now in a hiding with my kids,the documents of inheritance is with us.
please can you help us to have this fund 8,800,000.00 Euros transferred to your country and we will fly to join you after the transfer of the money into your bank account?.
For your assistance and effort,I will give you the 20% of the total amount and apart from this you are going to be in charge of the investment.

I will be waiting for your reply.
Regards,
Mrs Elizabeth Tanoh.

Anti-fraud resources: