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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: "Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <agent.paulson1@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2011 15:58:22 -0500
Subject: UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
(INTERNATIONAL FUNDS TRANSFER / AUDIT UNIT)
UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION
(WORLD BANK ASSISTED PROGRAMME)
DIRECTORATE OF INTERNATIONAL PAYMENT AND
TRANSFERS.870 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA 20-LONDON UK 10017.
Attn: Beneficiary,
I saw your email and I found out that you have not received your payment due to your lack of co-operation and not fulfilling the obligations giving to you in respect to your contract /inheritance payment.
Secondly.
 
Your email appeared among the beneficiaries, who will receivet heir payment of your contractual sum and has been approved already for months. You are requested to get back to me for more directions and instructions on how to receive your fund.
 
However, we received an email from one MRS ROSE WILLIAM who told us that She is your next of kin. she has also submitted to us her international passport, and that you instructed her to come for the claim of your funds in the tune of US$10.5 Million. we want to hear from you before we can deliver the funds to her. We want to confirm if you instructed her to make a change of ownership, thereby providing us with this information to deliver the funds to her. She has also submitted us her below home and banking information.
 
BANK OF AMERICA
MY ACCOUNT NO.46301-0188-048399-8
MRS ROSE WILLIAM
Tel. 1-772 778 6138
Fax. 1-772 778 6091
Address : 2001 58th Avenue, Fl. 32966
Once again, I apologize to you on behalf of SECRETARY UNITED NATIONS,for failure to pay your funds in time, which according to records in the system had been long overdue.Please reconfirm to me immediately if you have authorized for the transferring of your fund to MRS ROSE WILLIAM, Did you authorize MRS ROSE WILLIAM to come for your claim?
 
For further details call +44-704-577-8084 or E-mail: agent.paulson1@gmail.com
 
Yours Faithfully
MR. BAN KI-MOON,
 
SECRETARY UNITED NATIONS

Anti-fraud resources: