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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

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

Fraud email example:

From: "Dr. Phil Hodkinson" <hodkinson_35@msn.com>
Reply-To: <dr.philh@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:57:14 +0000
Subject: KINDLY REPLY SOON



The Bank Of Scotland
PO Box No.5 The Mound
Edinburgh EH1 1YZ .

Greetings


Following the recent announcement by the minister of finance, that all funds in
accounts that have been dormant for years be transferred to the Treasury I send
this mail to you.
I know that this message will come to you as a surprise since we do not know
each other before,I am Dr. Phil Hodkinson of the above mentioned bank in
Scotland.


I'm a chartered accountant by training and the personal account officer
ofLate Major Fadi Basem,there is an account opened in this bank which has been
dormant for years now and the owner of the said account was Late Major Fadi
Basem,an Iraq,who was killed with his family during the U.S and Iraq war in bomb
blast that hit their home. Since then no body has come as a relative or next of
kin to stand as a beneficiary to this man's fund,and the amount involve is
£15,000,000.00 (Fifteen Million British Pounds Sterling).

No other person/persons knows about this account or any thing concerning it as
my investigations proved, the account has no other beneficiary,I am only
contacting you as a foreigner because this money cannot be approved to a local
account here,but can only be approved to any foreign account because the
original owner of the account was a foreigner and according to the laws of my
country, all funds in accounts that have been dormant for years will revert to
the ownership of the United Kingdom Government if nobody applies to claim the
funds..


I will use my position and influence to effect legal approvals and onward
transfer of this money to your account with appropriate clearance forms of the
ministries and foreign exchange departments.


At the conclusion of this transaction, you will be given 40% of the total
amount,while 60% will be for me. I wait your urgent responce.

Yours Sincerely,
Dr. Phil Hodkinson

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