419 scam: "Mr. Godwin Emefiele" <mrdavidrichard34@gmail.com> DEAR BENEFICIARY

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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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "million united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- ",000,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- "power of attorney" (with your bank details and a power of attorney form criminals sometimes empty bank accounts)
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
This email message is a next of kin scam.
Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Godwin Emefiele" <mrdavidrichard34@gmail.com>
Reply-To: officegodwin4@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2021 23:54:39 +0100
Subject: DEAR BENEFICIARY

CENTRA BANK OF NIGERIA,
OPERATIONS DIRECTORATE,
566 TO 599 VICTORIA ISLAND,
LAGOS NIGERIA.

Dear Beneficiary,

We write to bring to your notice, a man identified as Mr. Thomas Edward
Cork, with address No: 1200 Fitch Way, Sacramento, Ca. 95864 USA, filed an
application contrary to claims of your inheritance fund of
$15,000,000.00(Fifteen Million United States Dollars) on your behalf, due
to your health challenge issues at the moment as stated on the power of
attorney he presented.

Therefore, we ask him to return back within 48hours, to enable us to have a
personal confirmation notice from you being the legal beneficiary of the
said fund, before we can release the fund to him as ratting on the power of
attorney he submitted.

We are sorry to have delayed this instruction and transaction till this
moment in giving out this fund, since we must adhere to the procedures of
this honorable Bank. Please, did you sign the power of Attorney in favor
of Mr. Thomas E.Cork, thereby authorizing him to claim your inheritance
fund?

Your confirmation of this information will be appreciated before we proceed
with the fund transfer process. We
look forward to hearing from you soon.
Best Regards

yours sincerely
MR. GODWIN EMEFIELE

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam