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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.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "wilfred konan" <wilfredkonan5@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: wilkonan@yahoo.co.in
Date: Thu, 02 Feb 2006 05:50:43 -0500
Subject: FROM WILFRED KONAN

FROM WILFRED KONAN
Attn,

Good day.

I have a proposal for you - this however is not mandatory nor will I in any
manner compel you to honour against your will.

I am 49, and work with a bank (one of the African leading banks in lome
togo). Here in this bank existed a dormant account for the past 8 years
which belong to an expertriate.

When we discovered that there had been no deposits nor withdrawals from this
account for this long period, I and my two other colleagues decided to carry
out a system investigation and discovered that non of the family member nor
relations of the deceased is aware of this account.This is the story in a
nutshell.

Now we want an account overseas where we can transfer this funds.
Thereafter, we had planned to destroy all related documents for this
account. It is a careful network and for the past eleven months we have
worked out everything to ensure a hitch-free operation. The amount is not so
much at the moment and plus all
the accumulated interest the balance in this account stands at-US$42
million. Now our questions are:-

1. Can you handle this project?

2. Can we give you this trust?

3. What will be your commission?

Consider this and get back to us as soon as possible. Finally, it is our
humble prayer that the information as contained herein be accorded the
necessary attention, urgency as well as the secrecy it deserves. We Expect
your urgent response if you can handle this
project.

Yours Sincerely,

WILFRED KONAN

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