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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. GREGORY DAVID" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <dr.gregorydavid0012@virgilio.it>
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:48:27 -0700
Subject: SUSPECT: VERY URGENT:

PAYMENT SYSTEM HARMONIZATION COMMITTEE
(GHANA MONITORING UNIT)
Our Ref: PSHC/GMU/BJN/ZZ057

Attn: Sir/ Madam (Beneficiary)
RE: SWIFT TRANSFER OF US$850,000.00 (EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) ONLY INTEREST INTO YOUR ACCOUNT.

I am the Chairman Payment System Harmonization Committee, Accra, Ghana. Sometime ago, your contract money was deposited in a local bank by the Bank of Ghana and after some period, they recalled the fund back to their treasury.

For the period of time this fund stayed in the local bank, it generated an interest of US$850,000.00 only which we consider must be paid to you since you are one of the contractors/beneficiaries that have not received his/her payment. As a matter of fact we the management of this Committee has resolved and decided to pay the interest of the fund via Swift Transfer into your account.

What we need from you now is any form of identification like your international passport number or your driving license number, then your telephone and fax number for easy communication.

In view of this you are hereby instructed to contact this office immediately you receive this message and reconfirm the above stated details forward your full details Tel No,names,address,bank account information for transfer within 48hrs. The Payment System Harmonization Committee therefore apologize for any form of delay and inconvenience. We are poised to serve you better and on a last note, we want you to keep this correspondence secret because all the officials that are involved in your principal amount doesn't know about the existence of this fund.

We are waiting to hear from you.

Best regards,

Dr. Gregory David.
Chairman, Payment System Harmonization Committee.
Accra, Ghana
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail.

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