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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <benmathews@yandex.com>
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2018 19:18:27 +0700
Subject: Dear Confidant

Dear Confidant,
I am Ben Mathews, Group Company Secretary at HSBC London, United Kingdom and do sincerely
hope that you receive this mail in good faith and good health. I would respectfully request that you keep
the contents of this mail confidential and respect the integrity of the information. I am contacting you based
on an inheritance for the sum of Fifteen Million, five hundred thousand dollars that you might be
in otherwise this reasonable amount of money will be forfeited to the U.K Government for charitable use.
If you are interested reply through my email and provide your Full Name, Address and Telephone Number.
Upon your response, more details will be given.
Email: benmathews@yandex.com
Tel: +44 1212868503
Yours Respectfully,
Ben Mathews.

Anti-fraud resources: