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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:
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "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)
  • "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "samuel mantu" <sa1@gainesville.com>
Reply-To: sammantu2222@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 19:00:25 -0400
Subject: Letter From Mr. Samuel Mantu !!!




>From the Desk of:
Mr. Samuel Mantu
Lagos Nigeria.

With great pleasure I Mr. Samuel Mantu, Credit control  Manager of
a  Bank (name upheld)is writing you in respect of a foreign customer
an Oil  consultant/contractor with the Nigerian National Petroleum 
Corporation,Engr.Lee Seunghyo made a numbered time (Fixed) Deposit for
twelve  calendar months valued at US$25,000,000.00 (Twenty-five
Million Dollars) in  my branch.

Upon maturity, I sent a routine notification to his forwarding
address  but got no reply. After a month, we sent a reminder and
finally we  discovered from his contract employers, the Nigerian
National Petroleum  Corporation that Engr.Lee Seunghyo died in Korean
Air Flight 801, which  crashed in Guam on August 1997 with other
passengers onboard. I   therefore made further investigation and
discovered that Engr. Lee Seunghyo   died without making a WILL, and
all attempts to trace his next of kin
was 
ruitless.Also, he did not declare any next of kin or relations in
all  his official documents,including his Bank Deposit paperwork in
my  Bank.This sum of US$25,000,000.00 is still sitting in my Bank and
the interest is being rolled over with the principal sum at the end of
each   year.

Since the demise of this our customer, I have personally watched the 
account with keen interest to see the next of kin but all has proved 
abortive as no one has come to claim his FIXED DEPOSIT fund of 
USD.$25million, [Twenty five million United States Dollars] which has
been with   my branch for a very long time. Since his death, none of
his   next-of-kin or relations has come forward to lay claims for
this money asthe   heir.

A member of our government trade delegation to your country gave
your  impeccable profile to me. Hence I have decided to seek your
co-operation  in this business deal due to the sensitivity of this 
transaction. It  may
interest you to
know that I am only contacting you as a  foreigner  because this
money cannot be approved to a local Bank account  here, but  can
only be approved to a foreigner with an account since the  money is 
in US Dollars. I have decided as a matter of urgency upon this  
discovery now seek your permission to have you stand as next of kin
to  the   deceased Engr. Lee Seunghyo as No one has ever come
forward to claim  this fund.

In accordance to Nigerian Law, fund deposited for a long period of
time  without claim will be reverted to the Nigerian Government
treasury if  nobody applies to claim this fund after a long period of
time. I want  you to co-operate with me so that the fruits of this
man's labour will  not get into the hands of some unsrupulous corrupt
government officials  if NOT CLAIMED now. I have secured from the
probate an Order of Madamus  to locate any of deceased beneficiaries.
Hence I am contacting you with  thisproposal.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam