419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

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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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "the diplomat " ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: Djeneba Bamba <djebamba189@msn.com>
Reply-To: <bamba.dje@hotmail.fr>
Date: Tue, 8 May 2012 04:45:12 +0000
Subject: =?koi8-r?B?8NLJ18XULCDP3g==?= =?koi8-r?B?xc7YINPSz97Ozw==?=
=?koi8-r?B?LCDOxc3FxMzFzg==?= =?koi8-r?B?zs8gz9TXxdTJ1A==?=

Hello,

I am Miss. Djeneba Bamba, from Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire. I need your assistance as a new partner to help me collect my briefcase containing some millions of Dollars in your country Russia. My father kept it with the UN worker late Miss. Zahra Abidi so that it would be taken to Russia for safekeeping as the war errupted in Abidjan, Cote d'ivoire.

My father was killed shortly after depositing the briefcase with Miss. Zahra Abidi and unfortunately Miss. Zahra Abidi also died on 31st of March 2011 by a stray bullet. But before her death, she has already concluded an arrangement to send the briefcase to Russia through a diplomatic means.

Since then, the diplomat who transported the briefcase to Russia has been calling me for the collection of the briefcase. But I don't want him to return it back to my country because of the political problem here in my country. This is the reason I want you to help me as a partner to meet with the diplomat in Russia and collect the briefcase, then keep it for me. Then I will give you the key to open the briefcase after collecting it from the diplomat so that you will take some money from the briefcase and send it to me, then I will join you in Russia and we shall invest the money together.

I will offer you 20% of the total money if you are able to help me collect the box from the diplomat in Russia. Please note that the diplomat does not know that the box contains money, late Miss. Zahra Abidi told him it contain Gold and Diamonds.

I want to build trust in you by giving you this opportunity, please be a honest person. If this proposal interests you, please reply by sending me your full name, address, telephone number and other personal information so that I can know the person I am dealing with.

I am urgently expecting your response because the diplomat wants to return to his country in a short time.

Regards,
Djeneba

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam