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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: "Barr. Howard Richard" (may be fake)
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 03:19:26 -0600
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL NOTICE!!!

Dear Friend,

Am Barrister. Richard Howard at law. A deceased client of mine, by name Mr Mark, who herein after shall be referred to as my client,died as the result of a heart-related condition in November 2002. I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the money left behind by my client before it is confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Finance House where this deposit valued at 40.5million dollars is lodged.

This Finance House has issued me a notice to contact the next of kin, or the account will be confiscated because there is a
government gazette/mandate/authorizing all Finance Houses to freeze or confiscate any account that has not been serviceable in a long period of time,this is geared towards capital flight for the economy.

If you are familiar with private banking affairs, those who patronize our services usually prefer anonymity, but also some levels of detachment from conventional processes. In his bio-data form, he listed no next of kin. Mark died intestate. In
another year, if a next of kin is not located to inherit the fund, the Estate will revert back to the Bank's accounting system as "unclaimed" Late Mark died with no known or identifiable family member. This leaves me as the only person with the
full picture of what the prevailing situation is in relation to the deposit.

What I wish to relate to you will smack of unethical practice, but I want you to understand something. It is only an outsider
to the Banking world who finds the internal politics of the banking world aberrational. The world of private Banking especially is fraught with huge rewards for those who sit upon certain chairs and oversee certain portfolios. You should have begun by now to put together the general direction of what I propose. There is US$40,500,000.00 deposited with a finance company,I alone have the deposit details and they will release the deposit to any one that i nominate as a next of kin.

My proposition to you is to seek your consent to present you as the next-of-kin and beneficiary of my named client, since you
have the same last name with my deceased client, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you. All legal documents
to back up your claim as my client's next-of-kin will be provided.We will share the Benefit upon our mutual agreement.

All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through. This will be executed under a legitimate
arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

If this business proposition offends your moral values,do accept my apology but if not, then contact me at once to indicate
your interest, You can call me on my personal number (+44 704 577 1039) or email me (howardrichgat@gmail.com) so i can further explain this whole transaction to you or you can just send me an email here.


Best regards,

Barrister Howard

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