419 scam: "Barr. John Okafor"<barristerjohnokafor@live.com> URGENT REQUEST NEEDED.

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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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "huge sum of money" (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)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "lagos" (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.
Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.

Fraud email example:

From: "Barr. John Okafor" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <barristerjohnokafor@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:33:31 -0800
Subject: URGENT REQUEST NEEDED.

Dear Sir/Madam,

My name is Barrister John Okafor, Esq. an Attorney to Michael Coker, who is an Accountant Director with Union Bank, Lagos-Nigeria, we are looking for a foreign partnership to assist us in a mutual ventures, we are a also looking for a property enhanced with all appurtenances, gardens, swimming pool, terraces, valid with a court yard, all bounding a detached house in the demised premises.

We urgently want to acquire and invest on properties e.g. Houses, Hotels as well as other lucrative venture, most importantly, my clients is a top senior Bank officer wit Union Bank, Lagos-Nigeria, he urgently wants to buy houses and invest in any lucrative venture abroad so that he can relocate his entire family out of our country, due to huge sum of money we Intended to move out of the Bank. So you shall only be required to stand as the foreign partner in order to move the fund out of the bank smoothly without any eyebrow.

If you are of genuine intensions and can handle this with us, please contact me as soon as possible via email for more details.

I urgently await your response, for it is very urgent.

Best regards,

Barrister John Okafor. Esq,(Legal Petitioner)
Principal Partner (Paul Owen & Associates).

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam