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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: Joel Baba <joelba@kimo.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 18:42:18 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: I need your urgent response.


 With Due Respect,
My sincere greetings and apologies to you. First and foremost, I would like to apologize for my intrusion into your privacy.I want to use this medium to contact you for negotiation of my proposition for working with you to secure and actualize this proposal for our mutual benefit and i wish to soliciting your assistance in proposing an urgent transaction requiring maximum confidence.
I discovered in my department an abandoned sum of $15 million in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer who died along with his entire family in a plane crash.Since we got information about his death,we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we can not release it unless somebody apply for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines,but unfortunately i learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died along side with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim.It is therefore upon this discovery that i now decided to make this business proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or business associate to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and i don’t want this money to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed bill.
The banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money remained unclaimed after fifteen years,the money will be transferred into the bank treasury as unclaimed fund.The request of foreigner as next of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner, and a Burkinabe can not stand as next of kin to a foreigner.I agree that 40% of this money will be for you as foreign partner,in respect to the fact  that will be my foreign partner and provision of account and 60% would be for me.There after i will visit your country for disbursement according to the percentages indicated. 
Therefore to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to you as arranged,you must apply first to the bank as a business associate or next of kin of the deceased indicating your bank name,your bank account number,your private telephone and fax number for easy and effective communication and location where the money will be remitted.Upon receipt of your reply,i will send to you by fax or email the text of the application, I will not fail to bring to your notice that this transaction is hitch free and that you should not entertain any atom of fear as all required arrangements have been made for the transfer. 
I am awaiting for your immediate response as you receive this mail.Extend my sincere greetings to your entire family and bye for now.
Your’s faithfully, Joel Baba.
(FILL THIS FORM BELOW AND RESEND IT TO ME).
1) Your Full Name......................................2) Your Age...............................................3) Marital Status.........................................4) Your Cell Phone Number.......................5) Your Fax Number.................................6) Your Country.........................................7) Your Occupation....................................8) Sex........................................................9) Your Religion........................................10) Your Private E-mail Address..................
I will advice you to keep every thing about this transaction secret as to enable the transfer to move very smoothly into the account you will prove to the bank.

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