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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

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

Fraud email example:

From: "PATRICK COLE" <patrickcoleuka@mailbox.hu>
Reply-To: patrickcoleuka@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 13:21:05 +0100
Subject: Congratulation,


Attention:

Your e-mail address came up in a random draw conducted
by our law firm,Alpha Law Chambers in Lagos Nigeria

My name is BARR.PATRICK COLE (esq). A personal attorney to our
late client Mr.Kenneth Johnson, who worked for an oil firm in Nigeria.
Mr.Kenneth Johnson a well known Philanthropist,before he died, he made a
Will in our law firm stating that $5M (Five million U.S. dollars
only) should be donated to any Philanthropist of our choice overseas.


We have made a random draw and your name and e-mail address was picked as
the beneficiary to this Will. I am particularly interested in securing this
money from the Bank, because they have issued a notice
instructing us to produce the beneficiary of this Will within two weeks
which happens to be you or else the money will be credited to the Government
treasury as per law here.


It is my utmost desire to execute the Will of our late client. You are
required to contact me immediately to start the process of transfering this
money to any of your designated official account. I urge you to
contact me immediately for further details bearing in mind that the Bank has
given us a date limit.

Please contact me urgently via my personal email address

Congratulation,
BARR.PATRICK COLE Uka[Esq].

PHONE +234 07391 658 93

Anti-fraud resources: