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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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "john awo" <john_awo@uba-ng.com>
Reply-To: john_awo1@yahoo.co.in
Date: Sat, 05 Nov 2005 08:21:47 +0000
Subject: I await your response urgently.

Mr John Awo,
United Bank For Africa,
ILupeju Branch,
Lagos, Nigeria.

ATTN: MD/CEO

I am Mr John Awo, Branch Manager with United
Bank For Africa,ILupeju Branch, Lagos, Nigeria.

I have an urgent and very profitable business
proposition for you that should be handled with
extreme confidentiality.

On January 6,1998 a Foreign Consultant and
contractor with the Nigerian Railway Corporation
Mr. James Herbert name made a numbered time Fixed
Deposit for twelve calendar months valued at USD75M (Seventy Five
Million U.S.Dollars).

Upon maturity I sent a routine notification in
accordance with the Bank policy to his forwarding
address but got no reply.

After a month we sent a reminder and finally we
discovered from his contract employers Nigerian
Railway Corporation that Mr. James Herbert died from an
automobile accident.

On further investigation, we found out that he died
without making a Will and all attempts to trace his
next of kin was fruitless. I therefore made further
investigations and discovered that Mr. James Herbert
did not declare any next of kin or relations in all
his official documents including his Bank Deposit
paperwork in my Bank.

This sum of USD75M has been carefully moved out of
my bank to a Financial and Security Company in Europe
for safekeeping.

No one will ever come forward to claim it and
according to the Law of my country, at the expiration
of 8 years the money will revert to the ownership of
the State (Government) if nobody applies to claim the
fund.

This prompted us to contact you.We want to front
you as the next of kin of our late client thereby
making you the legal beneficiary of the sum of USD75M(Seventy Five
Million U.S.Dollars).
that is presently in a Financial
and Security Company in Europe.

I contacted you because it is against our code of
ethics to own and operate foreign accounts and your
assistance would be needed to claim the money in the
Financial and Security Company in Europe.

We have unanimously agreed that 30% of the entire sum
would be for you if you agree to take part in this
profitable transaction,60% for me while the remaining
10% would be used to pay back the expenses that may be
incurred during the course of the transaction by both
parties after the fund has been claimed and lodged in
your account.

In the event that you are genuinely interested in the
transaction,the following information would be needed
from you to expedite action.

1) Your Full Name .

2) Your Residential or Company Address.

3) Your Private Mobile,Telphone and Fax numbers where
you can be reached at all time because this
transaction entails constant communication.


The transaction is 100% legal and totally free of
risks as all modalities has been perfected to ensure
the hitch free success of the transaction.

If you are interested, send the requested information
via email as soon as possible
so that we can proceed have a blessed day.

I await your response urgently.

Regards,

Mr John Awo


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