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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: "Kenneth Belei" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <pclaimsdept@i12.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:39:14 -0700
Subject: Partenership:Respond ASAP.

Hello Dear,
I need you to receive funds on behalf of winners in your region. My name is Mr.Kenneth Belei. I live in the Republic of South Africa .I am presently a financial resource co-ordination/director for a reputable south african based lottery brokerage company.We mostly handle local and oversea lottery payouts for various gaming companies in Southern Africa,U.S.A,Canada,Asia and Europe.

Often times, funds/payouts which have already been approved by the lottery commission remain unclaimed by the winners for several reasons e.g. winners invalid contact details,change of address, death, late application of claims,wrongful notification, failed verification etc.In this regard, we are mandated to return such funds as unclaimed to the company’s trust a/c. This does not benefit any person, and we have a reason to believe that it ends up in personal pockets, without
any compensation to us.

The duty of validating claims and authorization of final payout rests on my desk as it is, and I have devised a strategy to re-direct such payments from one winner to another. For this I require utmost confidentiality, hence, I need a person of good integrity to work with in other to protect my job and assure me of my own returns when payment is made. There is no risk in this on your part because every change will be effected legally from our office; all I ask is that you keep it strictly only between you and me as long as this relationship lasts. I believe this venture will mutually help our financial status for a good while.

At the moment, I have an urgent need to claim three reasonable sum of funds in your region ($1,742,000.00; $820,000.00; $ 550,000.00)Total funds is $3,112,000.00 which has already been approved for payout.All attempts to contact the winners have proved abortive, hence my contacting you.If you agree to a share of 50/50 between you and i on every collection,we can proceed immediately.

Kindly respond to this message and provide me with more effective contacts such as your tel,fax and an alternative email if preferable.

Trusting you in confidence.

With Regards,

Mr.Kenneth Belei
Tel:+277 2878 1316.

Anti-fraud resources: