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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: "ECOBANK-BENIN" <ecobeninrep4@outlook.com>
Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2017 13:25:24 +0300
Subject: ECO-994.. ONLINE TRANSFER

This is to inform you officially that we have verified your payment
file and
found out the reason you have not received your payment is because you
have not
fulfilled the obligations given to you in respect of your funds.

Secondly, we have been informed that you are still dealing with the
none
officials in the bank and all your attempts to secure the release of
your fund
are still in vain. We wish to advise you that such an illegal act has
to stop if
you wish to receive your payment since we have decided to bring a
solution to
your problems in receiving the funds. This idea is the latest
instruction given
to this bank by the Federal Ministry of Finance and Economy.

You are now going to receive your funds through Online Banking
Transfer.
To receive your funds through online banking, you need to reply back
with the
following information as urgent as possible.

1. Your full name:
2. Phone and fax number:
3. Address:
4. Your age and current occupation:
5. A copy of your identity

Once again, you have to stop henceforth your further communication
with any
other person or office regarding this transaction, this is to avoid
any hitch or
delay in
finalizing your payment. The transfer of your total sum of
$4,500.000.00 will
be completed through online banking transfer as soon as possible.
The online banking information will be forwarded to you upon the
receipt of
your response for the urgent online transfer.

Also note that because of impostors, we hereby issue you our code of
conduct,
which is ECO-994 you must have to indicate this code while replying
back.


Yours faithfully,
MR CHEIKH TRAVALY
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ECOBANK-Benin,
Avenue Jean Paul II - 08 BP 0879,
Cotonou, Benin Republic.

Anti-fraud resources: