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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: "James Santos" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <santosejames2019@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2022 01:28:29 -0800
Subject: URGENT REPLY

Hello,

I am Barrister James Santos the Funds Transfer Unit Central Credit Union, I want to let you know that we received another email right now from a young woman called Mrs. Marston Dale telling us that you died of coronavirus last week and before your death in the hospital you gave her the power of attorney to claim your inheritance fund worth the sum of U$10,500,000.00 (Ten Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) in our bank and she agreed to pay the Tax Clearance charge for us to hand over the fund to her, we need a confirmation from you as soon as you receive my message before we give her the access to your fund but if we don't hear from you in the next three working days, then we are going to take the action by handing over the fund to her. Remember to confirm your Full information to us for mutual understanding:

Your Name____________
Address: ________
Occupation: ____
Phone Number: _____
Age & Sex_________
Marital Status______
Copy of your picture_______

Best wishes
Barrister James E. Santos
Funds Transfer Unit
Central Credit Union
+1(917) 310-2307

Anti-fraud resources: