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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: "paulina wilfred" <paulina537@hotmail.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: paulina449@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 20:58:38 +0000
Subject: READ AND PLS, REPLY FAST


(BOA)BANK OF AFRICA
770, Avenue de la Résistance du 17 mai,
01 BP 1319, Ouagadougou burkina faso

hello my dear,
I will like to solicit your kind help in a business
proposition, which
is by nature very confidential and a Top Secret.

I know that a transaction of this magnitude will make any
one worried
and apprehensive but I am assuring you not to worry, as all
will be well at the end of this endeavor.also in a transactio like

this, it has to do with a lot o trust

I am Mrs paulina wilfred , a supervisor,customer service
with the
bank of africa here in burkina faso and I have
decided to seek your help in transfer of a huge sum of
money requiring maximum confidence. .

THE PROPOSITION
A foreigner, Dr. Rigobeto Fijimori who we beleive was an
oil merchant and a big time contractor to several african
governments. Until his death onboard the ill fated Kenyan
Airways bus {A310300}, he was our customer and had a balance of US$ 15
Million
( fifteen Million United States Dollars) which the
bank now expects his next of kin to claim as the
beneficiary.

i have made valuable efforts to get his people to no avail
as he had
no known relatives, due to this development our management
and our board of directors are making arrangements for the
funds to be declared unclaimed and subsequently paid into
the banks treasury.

Meanwhile, to avert this negative development with my position in the

bank, i have decided to contact you to
act as the next of kin to late Dr. so that the funds will
be released and paid into your account and this is where
you come in. i will maka a change to your name as the beneficiary to
this
fund
All documents to aid your claim will be
provided by me .so that as soon as this is done, i will start making

plans on how to come over to your country for sharing.20% will be for
you.
remember, keep this transaction secret,also, trust is needed in this
deal.
get back to me very quickly

Warm personal regards.

mrs paulina wilfred



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