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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: "FROM JAMES NOVO" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jamesnovo@jormall.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Feb 2010 07:11:30 -0800
Subject: From Dr.James Novo

>From Dr.James Novo

Good day my dear,

Hope you are in good health with your family. I wish to contact you for a lucrative deal that will uplift us financially without any trouble if you can hold trust to the highest esteem.

I am the Chief Auditor of our bank in Benin Republic. We are doing our annual audit, where I was fortunate to discover the sum of Eight million five hundred thousand United States dollars(US$8.5million), from a non-domiliciary account, left unclaimed since 6 years ago without anyone coming for the claim. My investigation revealed that the foreign account holder died with his whole family which rendered the account unclaimed till date. now there is no successor to claim this fund.

To avoid a close off to the account or to send the fund to the bank treasury as the law stated, I request that you apply as the only existing distant relative/business partner to the foreign deceased customer, which will enable our bank to release the fund into your account without any problem. This transaction will be executed under proper legal arrangements that will make your involvement unquestionable.

If you are interested, respond immediately with your direct phone numbe for more detailed information. I am looking forward to read from you.

Yours faithfully,
Dr.James Novo
My Direct Tel:+229 97 01 93 22

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