419 scam: "Johnson Etim"<officememo@payment.org> Attn: Scam Victim.

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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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
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:
- "money laundering" ("anti-terrorist", "anti-money laundering" or "drug-free" certificates are a common way for criminals in fake lottery scams and other Advance Fee scams to get you to send money to them. There are no such certificates in the real banking world. )
- "million dollars" (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)
- "economic and financial crimes commission" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "(efcc)" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "high court" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "federal high court" (This court is often mentioned in '419' scams to give the victim a reason why he/she should send thousands of dollars to the scammers. A 'Federal High Court' exists in Germany and Nigeria, but not in other countries, such as the UK, Spain, Netherlands, Senegal, Benin, South Africa or other countries where fake lawyers in scams often claim to be based. )
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- acctsofficedanbello@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Johnson Etim" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <crimedeskefcc@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2015 06:33:38 -0700
Subject: Attn: Scam Victim.

FROM CRIMES OFFICE (Public Presecution Unit)
ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION BUREAU LAGOS,NIGERIA.
Our Ref: EFCC/CIB/PP/3895/015.
Motto: No Body is Above the LAW.

Attn: Scam Victim,

The newly elected President,MOHAMMADU BUHARI of the Federal Government of Nigeria has through provisions in Section 419 of the Criminal Code came up with punitive measures to deter and punish offenders.The Advance Fee Fraud section deal mainly with cases of advance fee fraud(commonly called 419) such as obtaining by false pretense through different fraudulent schemes e.g. contract scam, credit card scam, inheritance scam, job scam, lottery scam, “wash wash” scam (money washing scam), marriage scam. Immigration scam, counterfeiting and religious scam. It also investigates cyber crime cases.

The Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)is a commission established by the Federal Government of Nigeria to fight the cyber crime, Internet fraud, scam and money laundering in Africa.This commission has been in existence since 2004 affiliated to Interpol United Kingdom(UK)and Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI)to fight scam and criminality.
We have been working towards the eradication of fraudsters and scam Artists in Western part of Africa With the help of United States Government and the United Nations.

We have been able to track down so many of this scam artist in various parts of west African countries which includes (NIGERIA, REPUBLIC OF BENIN, TOGO, GHANA CAMEROUN AND SENEGAL) and the apprehended hoodlums are in our custody here in Lagos Nigeria waiting to take them to court for justice.
The Leaders of the African Crime fighters has come together to inform the world about what is going on now as we have been able to recover $422 Million Dollars (Four Hundred and Twenty two Million Dollars) from the scam artists.

The United Nation Anti-crime commission and the United State Government have ordered the money recovered from the Scammers to be shared among 100 Lucky people whose information are found from the artist's computer hard disk/flash drive.

You are being contacted for this compensation exercise because your email address is among the information found in one of the scam Artists file and computer hard disk here in Nigeria coupled with sad information gathered from the Scam artist about how you were maltreated.
We have also arrested some people who confessed of parading themselves as barristers, bank officials,Loan/Lottery Agents promising to transfer money or want to be next of kin on funds that does not exist.

We noticed that you have lost much money,hence we decided to include your name to receive the compensation token recovered from the frozen local and foreign bank accounts owned by the scam artists.
The Federal High Court of Nigeria and Federal Ministry of Finance has approved your compensation with the sum of $4.5M for the loss that you incurred as this was a ceiling rate as some suffered more while others suffered less but the idea is to restore you back to the position that you would have been if not that you are defrauded. In addition approved the fund in your favor to be paid to you within 48 banking hours.

Therefore contact the paymaster Mr Danko Bello immediately to receive your compensation fund.

CONTACT PERSON:Danko Bello.
EMAIL ADDRESS: acctsofficedanbello@gmail.com

We are doing this in other to retain the good image of this great country,the new elected president (Muhammadu Buhari GCFR) has instructed and approved the payment of (us$4.5Million) each to 100 victims both America Asia Europe Etc. Due to his political straightness, All that you have to do right now is to contact Mr Danko Bello and furnish him with your data immediately as
we intend finalizing this payment in few days time.

Please and Kindly report any suspected email of scam received by you and stop any further communication with anybody or office suspected to be scam artist.

We guarantee your safety and wish you the best of luck.

Best regards,

Mr.Johnson Etim
Prosecuting officer(EFCC).

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam