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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: "=?ISO-8859-1?B?SmFtZXM=?=" <jamesjoseph@qq.com>
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 19:41:53 +0800
Subject: hello

Dear Friend,
I know that this medium is not the safest channel for Passage of this message of importance, but now as it comes urgent I see it as the fastest means available to me to reach you , so please bear with me.

My name is Barrister James Joseph; a Lawyer in Togo my contact to you involves a foreign client of mine, who herein after died as a result of heart-related condition on November 2004.

I contacted you to help transfer the money left behind by this my client before it is confiscated or declared unserviceable by Bank here where this deposit valued at 5.4 million dollars was deposited by my late client.

The Bank where my late client deposited these funds has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin, or the account will be confiscated if unclaimed within little time.

My proposal to you is to seek your consent to present you as the next of-kin and beneficiary of this my late client, since you are a foreigner as you have similar name to my late client so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you So, we can divide the amount on a mutually agreed terms in the rate of equal share to each party of which 50% of the funds will be benefited to you while 50% of the fund to be benefited by me.
Note that the total amount deposited by my client is 5, 400 000 USD.

All legal documents to back up your claim as my client next-of-kin will be provided. The most important thing I needed from you is being honest and cooperative in the execution of the transaction to enable us see this transaction through.

Please contact me at once to indicate your interest, also you should understand that this operation requires greater trust and you should keep this email to yourself regardless of whether you are rejecting the transaction or accepting it.
Note that I reserve the right to reject your acceptance of this proposal if I have reasons to believe that you cannot be honest or discrete as it concerns this proposal.

More details will be given to you as soon as your interest is indicated.
Sincerely,
James Joseph

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