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

Fraud email example:

From: Owo Komes <ooookkomes7@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ooowokomes@mail.com
Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2007 01:35:07 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Regards


Good day,

My name is Owo Komes, a Sierra-Leone (WEST AFRICA) by nationality. I am presently living with my mother and younger brother in a refugee camp here in Ghana. My Late father was a Paramount Chief in my village, which is rich in diamonds. I got your contact from a foreign charity aid worker that visited the camp for charity donations� but I did not disclose my actual intentions of reaching you.

During the war out break in my country, my family fled to Ghana a neighboring country to Sierra-Leone. However in Ghana, my mother showed to me some documents indicating that my father kept the sum of THREE MILLION USA DOLLARS in Bank account here in Ghana, for safe keeping before he passed away. My main reason of reaching you is to help us remove this funds from Ghana to abroad for investment. Precisely, our status as refugees does not permit us to run an account here and we do not want to contact any of my father�s business associates in abroad, because we do not know whom exactly to blame for this tragic loss.

Please, your assistance is urgently needed so that the Bank where this funds were kept will not declare this funds a Deceased Account Non-Greta, meaning that the Bank has full and legal right to claim the funds. Since the policy of the Bank on Deceased Customer Account is that after 5 years if there is no claim, the Bank will declare the funds unserviceable and will be immediately taken by the bank.

We would be glad if you will get us rest assured that you will not abandon us when the funds gets to you. We also want you to let us know the amount of % you want to deserve if you decide to help. If the % you wish to deserve is not ideal on my side, we can re-negotiate or call it a day. You can reach me on Tel: +233 249844936. Bye for now and thanks for your time and understanding.

Yours Faithful,

Owo.


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