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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

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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.

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

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

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "koffi georeg" <koffi4george@gmail.com>
Reply-To: koffi1goerge@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2007 15:43:58 -0700
Subject: attn plz


Investment Proposal

My dear friend,

My name is Mr.Michael Darney. I am Mr. Koffi George, the personal account
officer to the great late diseased who has an account in one of the top
banks here in South Africa. The account was opened in 2001 and he died in
2004 without a written or oral WILL and since 2004 nobody has operated on
this account again hence the money is floating and if I do not remit this
money out urgently it will be forfeited for nothing and the Govt.of South
Africa will confiscate the funds for their personal use which I personally
don't want such incident to happen being that this is a great opportunity
for me.My contact is for you to please assist me
to transfer the fund ($172,654,000.00 USD)One Hundred & Seventy Two Million
Six Hundred And FiftyFour Thousand United State Dollars from a Cooperate
Bank here in South Africa to an oversea account.
I have packaged this transaction that will be of mutual benefit to us. As
the branch manager, it is my duty to send a financial report to my head
office in the capital city, Pretoria, at the end of each financial
year.Ihave moved the funds into what the bank call Escrow Holding
Account with no
beneficiary. Meanwhile as you know I can not be directly connected to this
money for obvious reasons.
So my contacting you is to assist me receive the funds in your bank account
in your country; which I know is possible if you liaise properly with me and
get 30% of the total funds as your benefit. The transfer would be made via
swift and it will be a Bank-to-Bank wired transfer. All I need from you is
to stand claim as the original depositor ofthis fund. I will compute your
particulars as the person who made the deposit in my branch, so that my head
office will immediately order the transfer to your designated bank
Account.Email me if you think we can work together. Thanks for your
understanding and co-operation.

Yours truly,

Mr. Koffi George

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam