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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: kevin brown <kebrownbdb@msn.com>
Reply-To: <kevin-brownbd@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:07:00 +0000
Subject: REPLY ME



Greeting to you,
My name is Mr. Kevin Brown the Branch Manager of Natwest bank in United Kingdom, I here solicit for your strictly confidence on a good business transaction involving a huge sum of money from a deceased foreign customer Late Mr. Thompson Morrison; who died along with his family in plane crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 which crashed on January 31 2000, http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/02/01/alaska.airlines.list/
He deposited this funds amounting of {Twelve million five hundred thousand USA Dollars) $12.5m for safe keeping in the Bank here in London. Previously our filed record shows that the fund was actually for a project he wanted to start in the near future (a multi million Dollar steel planting in Florida, USA) before his sudden and untimely death. Since his death none of his relations or next-of-kin has come forward to claims this fund as the heir. Now our bank has been waiting for any of the relatives to come-up for the claim but nobody has done that. I personally has been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for 2 years now, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin /Will Beneficiary to the deceased because my bank will not release the money unless someone applies for claim as the next-of-kin to the deceased as indicated in our operating guidelines.
Please I need your urgent co-operation because I do not want this money to go into the Bank Treasury. The UK banking policy and guideline stipulates that any unclaimed money belonging to a deceased person for the period of 8 years will be transferred into the Banks Treasury as an unclaimed debt. The choice of contacting you is aroused from the geographical nature of where you live, particularly due to the sensitivity of the transaction.
All I require now is your honest Co-operation, Confidentiality and trust to enable us see this transaction through. I guarantee you that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. This will be disbursed or shared in these percentages, 60% to me and 40% to you.
1. Full Name2. Your private mobile telephone number for effective communication3. Your Contact Address.4. Age / Sex5. Occupation
Best Regards,Mr. Kevin Brown

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