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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: Mathew Zoro <mathewzoro@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: mathew_zoro@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Tue, 08 May 2012 14:47:44 -0300
Subject: Hello My Friend

From The Desk Of Mr. Matthew Zoroma.
Auditing And Accounting Manager,

Dear Friend,

Everything that happens to one has spiritual significance. I was just
leafing through the profiles of some names in the internet before I
came through your name. I have chosen to reach you because I felt that
business is taking risk, going from the known to the unknown.


I am the manager of Accounts/Operations Department of our bank here in
Abidjan Cote D'Ivoire. In my department we discovered an abandoned sum
of (US$16.5,million US dollars) in an account that belongs to one of
our foreign customer retired Atlanta physician Mr.George Brumley
Jr,who die in Kenya Airways crash in the coasts of Abidjan in January
2000 in which all passengers on board died. Since then I have made
several inquiries to locate any of my clients extended relatives but
has been unsuccessful Since we got information about his death,we have
been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money
because we cannot release it unless some body applies for it as next
of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking
guidlings and laws but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed
next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the plane crash
leaving nobody behind for the claim.

It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this
business proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of
kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement
since nobody is coming for it and we don't want this money to go into
the bank treasury as unclaimed bill.

The request of foreigner as next of kin in this business is
occassioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and an
Ivoirienne cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner. I agree that
50% of this money will be for you as a respect to the provision of a
foriegn account, While 50% will be for me Thereafter,

All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this deal
through I guarantee that this will be executed under all legitimate
arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. In your
reply mail, I want you to give me your full details.

Full Names
Address
Occupation
Country
Age
Telephone and Fax numbers.

If you can handle this with me mail me back soonest

Thanking you for your anticipated cooperation

Best Regards,
Mr. Matthew Zoroma.


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