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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: "Mr. Bruce R. Thompso" <brucerthompson21@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 26 May 2014 15:10:52 +0100
Subject: DEAR VALUED CUSTOMER,


BANK OF AMERICA
BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION
150 Broadway Ave New York, NY 1003 USA
Tel: (347) 635-6210

Ref: Wire Transfer Release Update.

DEAR VALUED CUSTOMER,

I
am Mr. Bruce R. Thompson, The Newly Appointed Assistant Director / Head
of Remittance Department Private Coded Telephone Banking. This is to
officially inform you that we have been instructed by the FBI and the
IMF to release your over due contract Inheritance/ lottery Payment of
$10.3million to you, but we are still waiting for your confirmation
regarding to the letter we received from Mrs. Margaret Thomason this
morning.

As a matter of fact, we lost your Full Personal/ banking
details after our annual system upgrade which made it impossible for us
to contact you, and we were only able to find your email address after
several search’s on our system.

A woman named Mrs. Margaret
Thomason sent a letter to our bank this morning, claiming that you
authorized her to receive the said fund on your behalf, due to your
present health condition, but we did not believe her because you had
never mentioned her as your next of kin to us.

In fact, she has
given us every reason to believe that you authorized her as she claims,
and she is ready to take care of what ever it will cost her to get your
funds transferred into her personal account, but I have been instructed
by the management of this bank to contact you this last time in order to
be sure that you are aware of this development as she claimed, before
releasing thee payment to her.

So did you authorize Mrs. Margaret
Thomason to receive your payment on your behalf? If you are not aware
of this, urgently reconfirm your full personal/ banking details as
requested below to us immediately, in order for us to cancel every
further arrangement in regards to the release of your fund to Mrs.
Margaret Thomason.

1. YOUR FULL NAME AND ADDRESS
2. HOME/CELL PHONE NUMBERS
3. BANKING DETAILS
4. A COPY OF YOUR I.D

However,
We Shall Proceed To Issue All Payments Details To The Said Mrs.
Margaret Thomason If We Do Not Hear From You Within 48 banking hours.

Your Urgent attention is needed if you are still alive. Reply to my E-mail (brucerthompson@live.com)

Yours Truthfully,

Mr. Bruce R. Thompson,
Assistant Director / Head of Remittance Department
The Private Banking and Investment Group
Private Coded Telephone Banking
Bank of America.

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