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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: MR MAX GILBERTO <maxgilbertoqa@aim.com>
Reply-To: maxgilberto@aim.com
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 15:47:00 +0100
Subject: URGENT RESPOND


FROM: MR MAX GILBERTO
STANDARD BANK SOUTH AFRICA
NO 43 COMMISIONER STREET,
JOHANNESBURG. SOUTH AFRICA
PRIVATE EMAIL: maxgilberto@aim.com

Attn,

I am Mr. Max Gilberto, a Staff of Standard Bank of South Africa. I am writing following an opportunity in my office that will be of immense benefit to both of us. In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of USD$21.8 Million (Twenty One Million, Eight Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers Late Mr. Morris Thompson an American who unfortunately lost his life in the plane crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 which crashed on January 31 2000, including his wife and only daughter, You can read more about the crash on visiting this site.

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/02/01/alaska.airlines.list/

Since we got information about his death, we have been silently expecting his next of kin or relatives to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless somebody applies for it as Next of Kin or Relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines, Unfortunately I learnt that his supposed next of kin being his only daughter died along with him in the plane crash leaving nobody with the knowledge of this fund behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I as the Head of this Department now decided to make business with you and release the money to you as the Next of Kin or beneficiary of the funds for safety keeping and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and we don't want this money to go back into Government treasury as unclaimed bill.

The banking law and guidelines here stipulates that such money remained after five years the money will be transferred into banking treasury as unclaimed funds. I agreed that 35% of this money would be for you as foreign partner and for your assistance, while the balance will be for my investment in your country. I will visit your country for the disbursement according to the percentages indicated above once this money gets into your account. Please be honest to me and trust is our watchword in this transaction, note this transaction is confidential and risk free. As soon as you receive this mail you should contact me with the following email address: maxgilberto@aim.com
Please note that all necessary arrangement for the smooth release of these funds to you has been finalized.

We will discuss much in details when I do receive your response, please in your response include your telephone and fax numbers for easy communication.

Best Regards
Mr. Max Gilberto.

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