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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:

Fraud email example:

From: mathew williams <mathewswilliams1970@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2022 09:05:21 +0100
Subject: PROJECT INVESTMENT

SIR OR MADAM,MY NAME IS GEORGE MICHEAL I AM FROM SIERIA LEONE BUT
PRESENTLY IN NIGERIA FOR HUMANITARIAN WORK , I GOT YOUR CONTACT
THROUGH A FRIEND WHO ASSURED ME THAT YOU WILL BE SINCERE. I HAVE
SOME MONEY $48 MILLION ONLY IN YOUR COUNTRY WHICH I WANT TO INVEST
ALL DOCUMENTS LIKE THE PROOF OF OWNERSHIP DOCUMENTS IS WITH ME AND
OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS TO HANDLE THE TRANSACTION AND YOU WILL NOT
BETRAY ME ALONG THE LINE THE FUND IS 100 PERCENT CLEAN AND ALREADY IN
A BANK IN USA, IF YOU ASSURED ME THAT YOU WILL NOT BETRAY ME, , ALL I
NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU IS HOW SINCERE YOU ARE AND THAT YOU WILL ABLE
TO HANDLE THE INVEST MENT., IF I HEAR FROM A MEMORANDUM OF
UNDERSTANDING WILL BE PREPARE AND SIGN BY BOTH OF US, THEN I WILL ASK
THE BANK IN USA TO RELEASE THE FUND TO YOU, YOU CAN INVEST THE MONEY
IN ANY COUNTRY OF YOUR CHOICE.. FIRST OF ALL YOU NEED TO SEND ME YOUR
FULL NAME ADDRESS, YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER AND COPY OF YOUR
INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT TO ENABLE US COMMENCE THE TRANSACTION.
REGARDS
GEORGE MICHEAL

Anti-fraud resources: