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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: Diosdado Owo Ngueme <hajah_rosita203@att.net>
Reply-To: d_owongueme@ymail.com
Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2011 17:06:04 -0800 (PST)
Subject: I will Appreciate your Earliest Response





Greeting

I am Mr. Diosdado Owo Ngueme, a citizen of Equatorial Guinea though I am currently sojourning in United Kingdom due to the unfavorable political climate in my country.

I was the Minister of Mines, Industry and Energy in Equatorial Guinea, from 2007 to 2009 before the Presidents Son; Teodorin Ngueme Obiang accused me of blowing the whistle on the property he owns in Malibu through his Sweetwater Malibu LLC, at 3620 Sweetwater Rd., Malibu, California. So he ordered the Minister of National Security to frame me up for embezzlement. The Government has accused me of corruption and embezzlement of over US$42Million during my time as a minister. They got me arrested, seized my international passport and placed me on house-arrest. But by God’s miracle, I managed to escape to UK.

Well, the entire country knows that I am being framed, and politically victimized due to my criticism of the undemocratic, corrupt and oppressive nature of the government. Now, they have frozen all my accounts in Equatorial Guinea and seized all my properties including estate and business concerns. They are even making effort to get the British government to extradite me to Equatorial Guinea for prosecution. Fortunately, the British government knows that the charges are trumped up and politically motivated. So they have so far refused to commit to my extradition.

I am contacting you because I have some money I want you to receive, invest and manage for me in safety and confidentiality till further notice.The amount is US$7Million (Seven Million United States Dollars), which I quietly deposited cash (in the vault) with a private security and vaults company.I will disclose the location and more information to you as soon as you acknowledge this email.

In our country, it is a standard constitutional requirement that government officials do not hold or maintain foreign accounts. This is why I had the fund deposited cash in the vaults of a security company. Fortunately, it has turned out now to be a blessing. If it were deposited in a bank account, I am sure the government would have located it with the help of the forensic accountants they hired to scout around the world to see if any bank account could be linked to me.

So as you can see, this fund is my life and everything to the future of my family. It is the only thing I have left.Please call or email me as soon as you read this email. It would not take more than a week to get all the documentations regularized to strengthen your position to receive the fund on my behalf. I know I have to issue a power of attorney to you on that effect.

As for compensation; you would take 15% as your compensation, while you would invest and manage the remaining 85% for me if you have the necessary managerial skills and experience. Otherwise, it could be kept for me in an escrow account.

This is a practical matter, so you don’t have any reason to fear and worry on your side.
I am rather worried as I hope you would not disappear as soon as this deposit is release to you. This has been giving me a lot of concern.

Warm Regards,
Diosdado Owo Ngueme.

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