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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: "FRANK WILLIAM" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <frankwilliam102@live.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2009 11:30:10 +0200
Subject: CAN YOU BE OF ANY ASSISTANCE???

Dear Friend, I am Frank William, Head Foreign Exchange Dept; NATWEST BANK CHELSEA ENGLAND .Every Six years, British Banks transfer to it treasury, Millions of Dollars/Euro of unclaimed deceased Depositors Funds, in compliance with the Banking Laws and Guidelines. In the majority of cases, with reference to my Natwest Bank , the money normally runs into several millions of Dollars Until Mr. Sheu Yuan-dong, governor of Taiwan's Central Bank, his wife and only daughter with other four other finance officials returning from a conference in Bali Died in a plane crash in Taiwan, I was his foreign currency denoted Bank Account Manager with constant balance in excess of eight digits. Ever since his death and up till this time of writing, no next of kin or relation of his has come forward to claim his money with us,since they lost their only daughter who was supposed to inherit this liquid assets. However, with my position, I am directly in charge of Bills and Exchange in the Foreign Remittance Department of this bank. I am in a position to cause the payment of this money to whosoever that present himself or herself as the next of kin or relation of late Mr. Sheu Yuan-dong on private business deal basis.Please View this website: http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9802/16/taiwan.crash.update2/The purpose of my writing to you exclusively is that I want to pull out this unclaimed money amounting to, US$45,900,000.00 (Forty Five Million,Nine Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) with your cooperation and assistance by just doing the following. 1. Act as the next of kin or relation of late Mr. Sheu Yuan-dong 2. Provide your bank account and location where you want the money remitted. 3. Provide your direct and private telephone/fax numbers for effective communication. 4. Give immediate reply to this proposal, using this email address (frankwilliam102@live.com) Upon receipt of your response and agreeing with my terms, I will send to you by fax the legally certified documents that proves that you are the next of kin/beneficiary of the said funds. For your co-operation and efforts 40% of the money will be for you as our foreign partner, while 60% will be for my colleagues and myself that will eventually visit your country for disbursement of our fund portion. As a matter of fact,it is pertinent to inform you that all modalities have been accomplished and all logistics in good shape to effect payment immediately. If you are interested get back to me. Treat with extremely confidentiality. Best regards, Frank William. Head Foreign Exchange Dept. NOTE: NATWEST BANK CHELSEA ENGLAND. The Money could also be paid officially to you in cash depending on our agreement.

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