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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 Crawford <support@soooner.com>
Reply-To: <jonathancrawford265@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 18:59:20 -0700
Subject: Greeting

Greeting,

How are you doing?
I am Jonathan Crawford from the United Kingdom . I am a legal solicitor practicing in the field of family disputes and litigation, will and estate disputes (under the Inheritance Act 1975 applications).

Firstly, I must solicit your strictest confidence in regards to the subject matter. This is by virtue of it's nature as being utterly confidential.
I am contacting you regarding the sum of 17 million dollars deposited by my deceased client at a safe vault in 2005.

Following his unfortunate demise on August 8th 2007, a search was lunched to locate any surviving relative as none was filled in his testate. My efforts over the years proved futile. Sequel to the letter I received from the firm, the funds shall be declared unserviceable and rendered to the revenue department after a specified period of years, following the expiration of his Deposit Contract.

My proposal is to present you as the sole beneficiary of these funds considering the lawyer-client relationship which restrict any claim by me. Therefore, I am contacting you in good fate, to work with me in receiving the sum. It will be much easier to establish a relationship between you and my late client being a foreigner residing outside the U.K. If this meets with your understanding, I shall provide all necessary legal assistance till the funds are released to us. Be rest assured there is no potential legal liabilities to this claim as I have everything under control. This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you and I from any breach of the law.

I may be privileged to have this information, but I have decided upon completion of this project, we get 45% each and 10% to be donated to charities of our choice. Do affirm your willingness to cooperate with me and kindly provide your direct phone and fax numbers. If you have any question(s) or require further clarification, do not hesitate to contact me on my personal email: jonathancrawford259@yahoo.com

Looking forward to your earliest response.

Yours sincerely,
Jonathan Crawford
Legal Solicitor
(Provision For Family and Dependants)

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