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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

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• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
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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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
  • "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.
• This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
  • 234
• This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
  • chiefsolomonbankole@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Union Bank Nig Plc" <office1@googmails.org>
Reply-To: chiefsolomonbankole@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:43:33 +0000
Subject: Important Letter Respond Immediately




From The Desk of: Chief Solomon Bankole
(Director) Accounts & Reconciliation
Union Bank Plc- Head Office Lagos,
125, Samuel Asabia House, Marina, Lagos
Tel/fax: 234 {1} 814 6713
Email: chiefsolomonbankole@yahoo.co.uk

Dear Sir,

.
Briefly I am Chief Solomon Bankole, the Director of Accounts and Reconciliations Department of the Union Bank Of Nigeria Plc. On July 6, 2004, one of our customers, Mr. Frederick M.Wong of 112 Kent Street, Redwood city, California, USA, an engineering expatriate and industrialist who worked with Shell Petroleum Corporation, an American Oil Company based in Nigeria. Mr. Wong made a numbered fixed deposit for six calendar months in value of US$30.5 million with an accumulated interest value of US$4.8 million totaling US$35.3 million in his deposit account in our bank.

After six months maturity expired, several notices were served to Mr. Frederick without responses. Our last notice was served June this year and yet no response. My private investigations revealed that, Mr. Frederick Wong and his wife Mrs. Lilla C. Wong died in the ill-fated Egyptian flight 990 that crashed some years ago. A confirmation of their deaths can be seen via the link below. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/502503.stm.

Further investigation revealed that Mr. Frederick M. Wong had no other next of kin except his wife who died along side with him. Meanwhile, the managing director of the bank and my humble self have decided to transfer the fund out of Nigeria as no one have come forward to claim the fund ever since then. The position to transfer this sum arose as a result of the recent Financial Regulatory Policies of the Federal Republic of Nigeria where every fixed deposit account is revoked after the expiration of time stated by the depositor and fund diverted to the Apex bank, the Central Bank Of Nigeria(CBN.)
I therefore seek your candid understanding to put head together with me and plan to transfer the fund into your bank account for future investment.

I will consult an attorney who will obtain the necessary documents that make you the Bona-fide trustee and beneficiary of the fund. The attorney will adopt a legal method to obtain documents that will facilitate hitch-free remittance (that will give cover) including the Certificate of fund ownership and the letter of Trusteeship will be procured in your favor by the attorney and be presented to the bank for remittance under the watchful eyes of the Managing Director and my humble self.

All I need from you now are your full names and address, your direct phone and fax numbers including your business or company name if any for the attorney to commence process of documentations immediately. For your assistance, you will be entitled to a certain percentage of the total sum. The request for a foreigner as Next of Kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and a citizen here cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner. I therefore solicit for your assistance to come forward as the next of kin in this business.

I remain with best regards,

Chief Solomon Bankole
Director, {Accounts/Reconciliations.}
{Union Bank Plc}

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam