419 scam: "UNO"<info@un.org> UN

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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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- ",500,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "UNO" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ecobkplc_ng@outlook.com>
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 02:09:01 +0200
Subject: UN

You may not understand why this mail came to you. We have been having a meeting which ended 2 days ago with the former secretary to the UNITED NATIONS. This email is to all the people that have been scammed in any part of the world. The UNITED NATIONS have agreed to compensate them with the sum of US$3,500,000.00.This includes every foreigner that may have not received their contract sum, unpaid lottery winners,next of kin clients and people that have had an unfinished transaction or international businesses that failed due to Government problems etc. We found your name in our list and that is why we are contacting you. After the meeting, a Woman came to our UNCC payment department the next morning presenting a bank account number that will receive this money, she said that you are dead, this Woman,Mrs.Kate R. Jones claim to be your next of kin, she fo! rwarded some docume nts of funeral service held for you so as to divert your fund. She also forwarded the same bank account number to the approved paying bank, Koelner Bank PLC to commence an immediate transfer of the fund. Below is the bank account number that she gave to the paying bank and us for the transfer of the fund.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam