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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: "Office" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <Cuz550@aim.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 17:02:04 -0500
Subject: PLEASE GET BACK TO ME IMMEDIATELY

Barrister Richard M. Bestic
Email: Cuz550@aim.com



FOR MY BEST FRIEND

Before I proceed, I must first apologize for this unsolicited letter to you. I am aware that this is certainly not a conventional way of approach to establish a relationship of trust, but you will realize the need for my action. My name is Barrister Richard Bestic, a legal consultant living in Spain. Actually, I got your contact information through your Country world record while searching for a last name similar to my late client Eng. Robert; an expatriate engineer/contractor who worked in Spain, for many years, he
died along with his family during the Tsunami catastrophe when they went for a holiday in Asia, which occurred on Monday 27 December, 2004.

Before his death, on my advice as his lawyer he deposited
One Trunk Box/Diplomatic Personal Treasure, containing the sum of
$18.6M (EIGHTEEN MILLION SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND US DOLLARS)
cash with a security company here in Spain, but he did not disclosed the
content of deposited diplomatic consignment to the security company,
for security reasons. The security company has mandated me to
present any family heir/inheritor for claims, before the consignment
gets confiscated or reverts to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security,
as unclaimed diplomatic deposit. So I decided to search for any
of my late client's relative which has been very difficult for me,
as he did not declare any other person, address, partner or relatives
in the official paper works of his diplomatic consignment deposit
Eng. Robert was my private client.

Against this backdrop, my suggestion to you is that I will
like you as a foreigner to stand as the next of kin to Eng. Robert,
since you both share the same last name so that the diplomatic consignment
will be released to you. With my position as his lawyer, I will now
place your name as the next of kin to my late client. I will prepare
every relevant document that will assist your claims. Note that
this transaction is 100% risk free; there is no atom of risk in
connection to this business as I have worked out all modalities to
complete the transaction successfully, besides, as a lawyer I have a
license to protect.

Once the diplomatic consignment is released to you, we have
to discuss what percentage you have to give me for my involvement. If
this proposal does offend your moral values please pardon me
otherwise reply via my private email address:
( cuz550@aim.com) for further clarification.

Please be kind to get back to me if you are not interested
so that I can further my search for another partner.

Best Regards
Richard M. Bestic, Esq

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