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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

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

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "hundred thousand us 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)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "James Dapoya" <jdapoya3@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 22:50:09 +0100
Subject: Hello


Hello

I am the head of Accounts and Audit Department of Bank of
Africa,Ouagadougou.Burkina faso .i decided to contact you after a careful
thought that you may be capable of handling this business transaction which
i explained below;

In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of $10.5m US dollars (Ten
million, five hundred thousand US dollars). In an account that belongs to
one of our foreign customer who died along with his entire family in 1998
in a plane crash. Since we got information about his death, we have been
expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we cannot
release it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the
deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines but unfortunately we learnt
that his supposed next of kin(his son and wife) died alongside with him at
the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim .It is therefore upon
this discovery that I and other officials in my department now decided to
make this business proposal to you and release the money to you as the next
of kin (We want to present you as his business associate )to the deceased
for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and we
don't want this money to go into the Bank treasury as unclaimed Bill.

Therefore to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to your account as
arranged,you must apply first to the bank as next of kin of the deceased
customer.Upon receipt of your reply, I will send to you by fax or email the
text of the application. I will not fail to bring to your notice that this
transaction is hitch free and that you should not entertain any atom of fear
as all required arrangements have been made for the transfer.

I expect that you to contact me for more details immediately you receive
this letter.

Hoping to hear from you immediately.

Yours faithfully,

James Dapoya
Accounts & Audit Department ,
Bank of Africa

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam