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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: Andrew Wolley <lordwolleyc1@msn.com>
Reply-To: <private_andrewwolley001@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:03:26 +0000
Subject: URGENT ASSISTANCE IS HIGHLY
NEEDED................................SOON



>From Mr. Andrew WolleyAddress: 65 Petty France,St James Park,London SW1H 9EU.Occupations: International RemittanceCITI’S BANK, LONDON. Good Day, I am Sir Andrew Wolley one of the Director of Citi Bank, London, United Kingdom. It is indeed my pleasure to write this letter to you which I believe will be a surprise to you as we have not met before. I am deeply sorry if I have in any way disturbed your privacy and please forgive this unusual manner of contacting youOn the 2nd of January 2005, I received a call that one of my customer died in theTsunami Disaster with his wife and only child while on vacation at Phuket Island in Thailand. Since then I have made several enquiries to locate any of my customer's extended relatives and until date have not succeeded. I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the money left behind by my client before it gets confiscated by our bank or declared unserviceable by our bank where this deposit is lodged. Now, the bank Directors has called a board meeting regarding this Fund. So my main motive right now is to share this great opportunity with you by presenting you as the Next of Kin to the Deceased since all his banking details are with me as his personal Account Officer. And the deceased Account valued at £15,000.000 (Fifteen million pounds). Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the biological relatives of my late client, I hereby seek your consent to present you to the bank as next-of-kin of the deceased since you are a foreigner, so that the proceeds of this account valued at £15,000.000 (FIFTEEN Million pounds) can be transferred to you as inheritance and thereafter, you and I can share the money; 50% to me and 40% to you, while 10% will be donated to the Tsunami Disaster Charity Fund. We shall start the first transfer with £5,000.000.00 (Five Million pounds), upon the successful actualization of the first transfer without any disappointment from your side, we shall re-apply for the payment of the remaining amount to your account. I have the original copy of Certificate of Deposit of the funds, which will be used to substantiate our inheritance claims. All I require is your consent and honest co-operation to enable us see the deal through. Furthermore, I guarantee that the transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Yours faithfully, Mr Andrew Wolley ALWAYS CALL ME VIA MY MOBILE CELL NO:+447045763344

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