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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) 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:
  • ",500,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "confidential business" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
  • "very confidential" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: Ah Okonjo <eselu15@msn.com>
Reply-To: <eselu2@myway.com>
Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 05:09:00 +0000
Subject: Greetings My Dear One



Greetings My Dear One
I am Mr.Ahmed Okonjo, with the United Bank for Africa Plc .This is an urgent and very confidential business proposition.On February 22, 2006,a Foreign Oil consultant/contractor with the Nigeria Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Mr.Chistoffer Kasha made a numbered time(Fixed) Deposit for twelve calendar months, valued at US$21,500,000.00, (Twenty-one Million, five hundred thousand Dollars) in my branch.
Upon maturity, I sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got no reply. After a month, we sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his contract employers, the National Petroleum Corporation that Mr. Chistoffer Kasha died from an automobile accident. On further investigation, I found out that he died without making a WILL and all attempts to trace his next of kin were fruitless. I therefore made further investigation and discovered that Chistoffer Kasha did not declare any kin or relations in all his official documents, including his Bank Deposit paperwork in my Bank.
This sum of US$21,500,000.00 has carefully been fixed in my bank for safe keeping.
No one has ever come forward to claim it.
Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you as a Foreigner to stand in as the owner/beneficiary of the money which was fixed deposited in my bank. I am writing you because I am a public servant cannot operate a foreign account. I will provide you all the information that will enable us to lay claim on this fund so that the money will be moved out for us to share.
For more information and further proceedings, please reply with your Personal information; Name, Address, Occupation, Age, Title via my email address.
Be rest assured that this transaction would be most profitable for both of us because I shall require your assistance to invest in real estate within your country.
Thanks and God Bless.
Mr.Ahmed Okonjo

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam