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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: "Mary Kavic Dagogo" <marykavic_dagogo@msn.com>
Reply-To: c_william665@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 10:48:45 +0000
Subject: FROM THE DESK OF CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS

FROM THE DESK OF CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS
ACCOUNTS PAYABLE ACCOUNTANT/CREDIT MANAGER
LLOYDS TSB BANK, LONDON. UNITED KINGDOM.
EMAIL:

DEAR SIR

With due esteem respect please I beg your pardon for
this unsolicited nature, it was out of desperation and
curiosity that made me to contact you.
To introduce myself, I am Mr. Christopher Williams,
I am thepersonal accountant to Mr. John BARRETT , a national of
your country, who used to work with one of the Biggest
Oil Servicing Company here in London, here in shall be
referred as my customer.

On the Thursday July 7, 2005 3:01 PM, my customer, his
wife {Lady Juliet and their two children {Rose and
Dan} were involved in a Three blasts rocked the London
subway and one tore open a packed double-decker bus
during the morning rush hour Thursday, sending
bloodied victims fleeing in what a shaken Prime
Minister Tony Blair called ``barbaric'' terrorist
attacks. A U.S. law enforcement official said at least
40 people were killed and London hospitals reported
more than 300 injured, unfortunately, him and his
family were victims that lost their lives. You can
view this page for more information
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5124823,00.html
}
Since then I have made several enquiries to locate any
of my customer, extended relatives, this has also
proved unsuccessful.
After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided
to track his last name over the Internet, to locate
any member of his family or any close name to his,
hence I contacted you. I am contacting you to assist
in repatriating the money and property left behind by
my client before they get liquidate or declare it
unserviceable by the bank where this huge deposits
were lodged, Lloyds TSB Bank London, where the
deceased had his account valued precisely to be
USD$15M (Fifteen Million United States Dollars).
The bank has issued me a notice to provide the next of
kin or have the account liquidated within the next
twenty one official working days.
Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you to
stand in as the next of kin to, so that the fruits of
this old man's labor will not get into the hands of
some group of corrupt government officials who will
get rid of the money and share it for their own
selfish interest and greed.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the
relatives for over 3 weeks now, I seek your prompt
consent to present you as the next of kin of the
deceased since you have the same last name so that the
proceeds of this account valued at USD$15M can be paid
to you and then you and I can share the money
according to any agreed ratio.

All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us
see this deal through. I guarantee that this will be
executed under legitimate arrangement that will
protect you from any breach of the law.
Looking forward to your response in this my private
email address

Truly yours,
Mr. Christopher Williams


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