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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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Fraud email example:

From: "jameskuffor" <jameskuffor10@yehey.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: jameskuffor@blackworld.com
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 11:18:27 +0200
Subject: FROM BARR JAMES KUFFOR

ATTN:
I am Barr.James kuffor, solicitor and notary public, the personal attorney to Mr. Mark , the president Diamond Safaries co. Ltd. Accra-Ghana Who is a national of your country.On the 21st of April 2002, my client, his wife and their only son were involved in a car accident along Accra / Kumasi express road.Unfortunately they all lost their lives in the event of the accident, since then i have made several enquiries to locate any of my clients extended relatives and this has also proved unsuccessful.
After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his relatives over the Internet, to locate any member of his family but of no avail, hence I contacted you.I contacted you to assist in repatriating the money and property left behind before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the security company where my client lodge these huge deposits.
Particularly, the security company where the deceased had an account valued at about U.S$25 million U.S dollars. Consequently, the security company issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have the account confiscated within a short time.
Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over some years now,I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased since you share the same surname so that the proceeds of the account valued at U.S$25 million can be paid to you for both of us to share the funds; 70% to me and 25% to you, while 5% should be for expenses or tax as your government may require. I have all necessary legal documents that can be used to backup the claim.All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.Please get in touch with me through my e-mail to enable us discuss further.
Thanks for your kind co-operation
Barr.James kuffor.





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