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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: "Jonathan Kaba." <jkaba1998@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:52:56 +0000
Subject: Business Proposal

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Dr. Jonathan Kaba, Chairman, Contract Awarding and Tender Committee of African Union (A.U) with Regional Office in Accra, The Ghana. I got your contact during my search for a reliable person to entrust this Money Transfer Project to. I and my colleagues involved in this project have agreed to seek your partnership into this transfer project.

We wish to transfer the sum of US$8,541,562.00 to your personal or company bank account. These funds originated from "over-invoiced" contract bills awarded by us for the supply of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment to the ECOMOG Peace-Keeping Mission in Liberia and Sierra-Leone civil wars. This over invoiced sum was deliberately hatched out and carefully protected with all attendant loopholes sealed off. The original executors of the contracts have been duly paid through the International Commercial Bank of Ghana.

This money is lodged in an escrow account awaiting claims by any foreign person/company we may front as the owner. Based on the law and ethics of our service to A.U, we as civil servants are not allowed to operate a foreign account. You are offered 20% of the total sum as commission, 75% will be held on trust for us, while 5% is set aside to reimburse expenses incurred in the course of executing the project.The project is expected to be completed within 45 days if you accord us maximum cooperation. We solicit your unreserved confidentiality in this project. There is no risk involved.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Kaba

Anti-fraud resources: