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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "hundred thousand united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- ",500,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
This email message is a next of kin scam.
This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- ouadrago.abdullahi@hotmail.fr (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Ouadrago Abdullahi <ouadrago.abdullahi@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ouadrago.abdullahi@hotmail.fr
Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2013 07:08:41 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: =?utf-8?B?QlVTU0lORVNTIFBST1BPU0FML1BsZWFzZSBnZXQgaW4gdG91Y2ggd2l0aCBt?=
=?utf-8?B?ZSBpbW1lZGlhdGVseS7igI8=?=

Dear Friend.

It is my pleasure to contact you for a business venture which I intend to establish in your country. Though I have not met with you before but I believe one has to risk confidence to succeed sometimes in life. And I hoped that you will not expose or betray this trust and confident that I am about to repose on you for the mutual benefit of our both families. Presently I am the Manager In charge of Auditing section of the bank, but about to retire from active Bank service to start a new life.

But I am skeptical to reveal this particular secret to a stranger, During our auditing in our Bank, There is an over due unclaimed sum of Twlve milloin Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars ($12,500,000.00) in my bank, belonging to one of our dead foreign customers. There were no beneficiaries stated concerning these funds. Therefore, your request as a foreigner is necessary to apply for the claim and release of the fund smoothly into your reliable bank account as the Foreign Business Partner to the deceased.

The fund has been dormant (in-active) for years in our Bank here without anybody coming for the claim I want the bank to release the fund to you as the nearest person to our late deceased customer (the owner of the account) who died a long with his supposed next of kins in Iraq war since 2006 I don't want the money to go into our Bank treasury as an abandoned fund, so this is the reason why I contacted you, so that my Bank will release the fund to you as the nearest person to our late customer, This is a genuine business transaction I can not operate it alone with out using a Foreigner according to the laws guiding our bank, that is why i am contacting you in this manner to help me stand before my bank as the beneficiary to claim this fund and my bank will release the fund into your bank account.

Please I want you to keep this proposal as a top secret for yourself and. Upon receipt of your reply, I will send you full details on how the business will be executed and also note that you will have 40% as your share from the total fund, 5% will be shared to Charitable Organizations while Motherless Babies homes, disabled helpless as the balance of 55% will be for me.

please fill in your personal informationâ€™s as indicated below and as soon as i receive this information's below i will forward you a text of an application which you will fill and send to the bank for the claim of the fund as i will direct you on what to do.

Your name in full.......................... ........

Your country....................... ..................

Your age........................... ....................

Your cell phone......................... ...........

Your occupation.................... ...............

Your sex........................... ....................

Your marital status........................ ........

My private telephone number +226 7968 4045
email(ouadrago.abdullahi@hotmail.fr)

Best Regards,
Mr.abdullahi ouadrago

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam