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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: mrericmomoh122 <mrericmomoh122@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 18:03:24 +0100
Subject: Dear Friend,

Dear Friend,

I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise as we never met
before. I am the Director in charge of Accounting department at the
Guaranty Trust Bank (Ghana) Limited, 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. I need your urgent
assistance in transferring the sum of Seven Million Five Hundred
Thousand united state dollars ($7,500 000.00Million USD) Immediately
to your account.

The fund has been dormant (in-active) for 7 years in our Bank here
without anybody coming for it.I want to release the fund to you as the
nearest person to our deceased customer (the owner of the account) who
died along with his supposed next of kin in an air crash since on
December 26, 2008, I don't want the fund 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 the
deceased customer.

Please I would like you to keep this proposal as a top secret and
delete it if you are not interested, Upon receipt of your reply, I
will send you the application form you will fill and send to my bank
for transfer of the fund into your bank account and also note that you
will have 50% of the above mentioned amount if you agree to help me
execute this business and 50% is for me. I need your confidence so
that I will send you the application form.

Now my questions are:-
1. Can you handle this project? ……………
2. Can I give you this trust? ………………

If yes, send to me your personal information as stated below:

Your Name.........
Private Telephone.. ......
Occupation.. .......

I am waiting for your urgent response so that we will proceed immediately.

Best Regards,

Mr.Eric Momoh,
Guaranty Trust Bank (Ghana) Limited.

Anti-fraud resources: