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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 about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Dan Ugo"<infodan2626@ofir.dk>
Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 14:47:34 +0100
Subject: Await Your Reply

MR. DAN UGO
BRANCH MANAGER
ECO BANK INTERNATIONAL PLC
APAPA BRANCH
13/15 WHARF ROAD
P.O. Box 1388, APAPA, LAGOS
Private Email: - danugo2004@megamail.pt

 

Dear Friend,

 

I am Mr. Dan Ugo, Branch Manager with Eco Bank International Plc {E.B.I}. I am writing this letter to ask for your support and cooperation to carry out this business opportunity in my department. We discovered an abandoned sum of fifteen million dollars ($15 million u.s. dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers Late Engineer Jim Anderson who died in the Ikeja bomb blast of the January 27, 2002 my client, his wife, and their two children were involved in Ikeja bomb blast unfortunately they lost their lives in the process of the bomb blast.

 

Since we heard of his death, we have been expecting his next-of-kin to come over and put claims for his money as the heir, because we cannot release the fund from his account unless someone applies for claim as the next-of-kin to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines. Unfortunately, neither their family member nor distant relative has ever appeared to claim the said fund.

 

Upon this discovery, I and other officials in my department have agreed to make business with you and release the total amount into your account as the heir of the fund since no one came for it or discovered his maintained account with our bank, otherwise the fund will be returned to the banks treasury as unclaimed fund. We have agreed that our ratio of sharing will be as stated thus; 20 % for you as foreign partner, 75 % for us the officials in my department and 5 % for the settlement of all local and foreign expenses incurred during the course of this business.

 

Upon the successful completion of this transfer, I and one of my colleagues will come to your country and mind our share. It is from our 75% we intend to import Agricultural Machiner ies into my country as a way of recycling the fund. To commence this transaction, we require you to immediately indicate your interest by a return e-mail and enclose your private contact telephone number, fax number full name and address to enable us file letter of claim to the appropriate departments for necessary approvals before the transfer can be made.

 

Note also, this transaction must be kept STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL because of its nature.

 

I look forward to receiving your prompt response.

 

Mr.Dan Ugo (E.B.I)

 

NB: PLEASE DO DIRECT YOUR RESPONSE TO MY PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESS (danugo2004@megamail.pt)
For confirmation, please refer to the links below:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2718295.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/worald/africa/2698081.stm
http://www.worldsocialist-cwi.org/index2.html?/eng/2002/02/02.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/1787000.stm
http://www.thisdayonline. com/archive/2003/01/23/20030123lif01.html

 

Anti-fraud resources: