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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

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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.

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

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Fraud email example:

From: "MR JAMES KELECHI" <kelechi50@sify.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: kelechi50@myownemail.com
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 15:03:56 -0800
Subject: PERSONAL LETTER

MR. JAMES KELECHI
REMITTANCE DEPT,
CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA
MARINA, LAGOS.
NIGERIA
EMAIL:jkelechi50@myownemail.com

This is wishing you prosperous New Year.

I am writing this mail to seek your consent in a mutual business concern. This
involves certain contract amount approved again for payment to ZPower
Corporation, 5025 North Central #414Phoenix, Arizona 85012, USA for a contract
already executed and the actual contract sum paid for, to the original
contractor without proper investigation by the relevant authorities in my
country.

But as the Director of Remittance in our Central Bank, my office was given the
authority to properly investigate the veracity of the claim before releasing the
fund to the claimants. This is because we had mistakenly paid out so much
millions of dollars in the past to fake contractors who did not execute any
contract in our country. In the cause of our investigation we found out that
theabove-mentioned company did not execute any contract. But rather were
collaborating with former officials of the ministry where the contract was
executed to transfer an over invoiced amount in the original contract amount
which have since been paid to the main contractor. We know about this when the
contractor failed to show evident of award and execution of the said contract,
as they could not produce the Contract Completion Certificate issued them by the
ministry when the contract was completed. Due to this, they stopped the pursuit
of this payment while the fund has since been lying in our escrow account
unclaimed for months.

Now I need your consent to transfer this fund into your account as the actual
beneficiary. I will use my position to get all the requirements to accord you
the statues as such and to make the transfer legal without any risk on your
side. If you are ready to collaborate with me for this transfer into your
account, please kindly indicate so in your reply. I shall give you more details
and the procedure to realize it as soon as you indicate your sincere interest to
work with me. Do not hesitate to ask for more explanations where
necessary.Please reply through my personal email
address:jkelechi50@myownemail.com.

Once again I wish you prosperous New Year.

Yours truly,
James Kelechi.
Director, Remittance Dept. CBN

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam