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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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Fraud email example:

From: "MARTIN BEN" <martinben@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 2004 14:51:54 +0000
Subject: FROM THE DESK OF MR MARTIN BEN.

FROM THE DESK OF Mr MARTIN BEN.
AUDITIN AND ACCOUNTIN MANAGER,
BANK OF AFRICA (B.O.A)
OUAGADOUGOU-BURKINA FASO.


Dear Friend,

I am the AOUDITIN AND ACCOUNTIN MANAGER BANK OF AFRICA (B.O.A) here in
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In my department we discovered an abandoned
sum of US$25m dollars (TWENTY FIVE MILLION US DOLLARS) in an account that
belongs to one of our foreign customer (MR. ANDREAS SCHRANNER from Munich,
Germany) who died along with his entire family in Jully 2000 in a plane
crash.
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT THIS SITE BELLOW

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm

Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his
next of kin to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it
unless some body applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased
as indicated in our banking guidlings and laws but unfortunately we learnt
that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the
plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim.

It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this
business proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or
relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody
is coming for it and we don't want this money to go into the bank treasury
as unclaimed bill.

The banking law and guidline here stipulates that if such money
remained unclaimed after fours years, the money will be transfered into the
bank treasury as unclaimed fund. The request of foreigner as next of kin in
this business is occassioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner
and a Burkinabe cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner.I agree that 30%
of this money will be for you as a respect to the provision of a foriegn
account. 10% will be set aside for expenses incurred during the business and
60% would be for me Thereafter, I will visit your country for disbursement
according to the percentage indicated Therefore, to enable the immediate
transfer of this fund to you arranged,you must apply first to the bank as
relation or next of kin of the deceased indicating your bank name, your bank
account number, your private telephone and fax number for easy and effective
communication and location where in the money will be remitted.

Upon receipt of your reply, I will send to you by fax or email the text
of the application .
I will not fail to bring to your notice this transaction is hitch-free
and that you should not entertain any atom of fear as all required
arrangements have been made for the transfer.

You should contact me immediately as soon as you receive this letter.

Trusting to hear from you immediately.
Yours Faithfully,
Mr MARTIN BEN.(B.O.A)
TREAT AS URGENT AND CONFIDENCIAL

_________________________________________________________________
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