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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:
  • "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "nuhu ribadu" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
  • "high court" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
  • "federal high court" (This court is often mentioned in '419' scams to give the victim a reason why he/she should send thousands of dollars to the scammers. A 'Federal High Court' exists in Germany and Nigeria, but not in other countries, such as the UK, Spain, Netherlands, Senegal, Benin, South Africa or other countries where fake lawyers in scams often claim to be based. )
  • "abuja" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
  

Fraud email example:

From: <ribadub@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:40:56 -0600
Subject: FROM BELLO RIBADU

Dear friend,

With due respect, I am Alhaji Bello Ribadu, younger brother to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu the ex-EFFCE boss (Economic and Finance Crime Commission).

My brother Ribadu, was the second African to try to use official position to banish perpetual poverty by combating corruption head on after Lt. Jerry Rawlings of Ghana but while Rawlings succeeded, my Brother Ribadu failed because he was not a military ruler with absolute power.

He was the first police officer in the history of the force recognized by the United Nations as the most corrupt institution in Nigeria to emerge stainless and spotless, which has attracted more hatred from within and retired officers and my brother remains the first Nigerian to be persecuted and have him killed like the Biblical John the Baptist to satisfy the enemies of the masses. In a statement of National Coordinator, of Ijaw Monitoring Group Mr. Joseph Evah, the group said Ribadu was honored based on his efforts aimed at eradicating corruption in the country, Describing Ribadu as a blessing to his generation, Evah said that the gang up against the ex-EFCC boss was not surprising to the masses. In the History of this Nation, my brother was the first public officer to disagree with a sitting president (Obasanjo) that appointed him by indicting a former South-South Governor of corruption who was Obasanjo‘s choice for the office of vice-president in 2007 and stop the announcement
of the name at the PDP convention. As the masses would say, when some top Government officers disagreed with Ribadu when a former Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, was deported from hospital in Dubai to face corruption charges, but he remained the hope of the masses. Today my brother had been subjected to series of harassment, he was last second of December 2008 dismissed from the police even while an action he instituted challenging his demotion was pending at a Federal High Court in Abuja. Following my brother's recent dismissal from the police force, my brother had instructed me to look for a reliable person, since people like Gen. Ibrahim Babaginda and the former Inspector General of Police Mr. Balogun has sworn before all Nigerians that they will stop at nothing to ensure that my brother goes down.

I am compelled to contact you through this medium for a very important issue, which I tagged as the last hope for my brother and his family, my brother have a huge of money deposited as a secrete/Confidential Deposit with Security/Finance company here in Nigeria and we need your help to move the money out this Country since my brother’s movement is on daily bases monitored and some his properties such his Houses in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; in the British cities of Leeds and Chelsea as well as in Abuja’s posh Maitama District has been seized by the Government, and if not for the intervention of his junior colleagues that feels that the plot to arrest him was unjustified and my brother was notified before their arrival and since then my brother has gone into hiding.

I want you to understand that your assistance to move this Fund will restore hope to our family and so many lives are going to be safe. With the way things are going now, our last hope to survive aftermath is reliably on this money and you are manage this money until this case is over. Please help our family and God will surely help you in your time of need, 35% percent of this money is yours and I will contact to furnish with more details on how the money would be moved by the Security Company as soon as I receive your email. To enable us open a good communication, let me have your direct telephone number.

Thanks and God bless,
Alhaji Bello Ribadu

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam