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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: "mackay scott" <mackay344@msn.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2005 16:48:17 +0000
Subject: Urgent Assistance Needed!

Dear friend,

I am very sorry for this mail to you, i took the decision of mailing
based on theurgency of this transaction and i beleive and urge you to
give this mail the urgent attention it deserves.

I am Barrister mackay scott Solicitor to Gerald Welsh, who died with
his wife in an air crash on the 31st October 1999 in an Egyptian
airline flight 990.For confirmation check.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/502503.stm
http://www.greatdreams.com/pass990.htm

I am aware that he depositted US$26M in a security company in London
before his untimely death.

At this point i am contacting you concerning a carefully thought-out
plan that necessitates you to act as the beneficiary cum next of kin
to the said funds. I shall provide more technical details on how i
believe this can be accomplished. The funds in this security company,
if left unclaimed for a stipulated number of years would by law be
declared for use if unserviceable and unclared,and inherited by the
government.Working discreetly with me, i believe we can prevent
this,and acquire the funds for ourselves. For further information or
if you are interested, you can reach me immediately.

You will retain 20% of the money, 10% for incidental expenses while
70% will be for me, if you have any objection to this ratio, please
do not hesitate to inform me.

PLEASE, IGNORE THIS LETTER AND RESPECT MY TRUST IN YOU,SHOULD YOU NOT
BE INTERESTED.

Sincerely,
Barrister mackay scott Please send your response to my alternative email
(mackayscott@sify.com)


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