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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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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "paul omolonle" <paulomolonle2@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: paulomole@sify.com
Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2006 15:59:25 +0000
Subject: Assistance needed

>From Mr.Paul Omolonle.

I write you this mail which i pray should be urgently replied.I am
Mr.Omobolonle Paul, a staff of an international Bank, lagos. I am writing
following an oppurtunity in my office that will be of immense benefit to
both of us In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of $38 Million
usd,(united state dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign
customer who is late now .He is an American who unfortunately lost his life
in the plane crash of January 31 2000, Since we got information about his
death, we have been expecting his next of kin or relatves to come over and
claim his money because we cannot release it unless somebody applies for it
as next of kin or as a relative to the deceased as indicated in our banking
guidelines.

After careful investigation and due enquiries, we learnt that his supposed
next of kin was his only daughter, who also died along with him in the plane
crash leaving nobody with the knowledge of this fund behind for the claim.
It is as a result of this discovery that my few colleagues and I in this
department decided to make business with you and release the money to you as
the next of kin or beneficiary of the funds. We however do not want this
money to go back into government treasury as unclaimed bill. We agreed that
30% of this money will be for you as the foreign partner, while the balance
will be for my colleagues and I.

Note this transaction is confidential and risk free.As soon as you receive
this mail you should contact me by return mail whether or not you are
willing to enter into this deal. In the event that you are not interested, I
sincerely ask that you disregard this email and tell no one about it. I am
very careful on truncating my banking career should you mention this to
someone else. I hope you can be trusted in this regard. Please note that all
necessary arrangement for the smooth release of these funds to you has been
finalised. We will discuss much in details when I do receive your response.

Please in your response, include your telephone and fax numbers for easy
communication and then I would be letting you have my phone number too. I
expect your reply immediately on this email Best regards.

Mr. Omobolonle Paul

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam