419 scam: "Kenga"<michaelkenga@att.net> Dear Sir/Madam,

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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)
- "a security company " (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "the consignment" (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)
- "consignment " (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)
- "million 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)
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Kenga" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <michaelkenga1@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 13:13:28 +0100
Subject: Dear Sir/Madam,

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Grace Kenga with my only brother Michael kenga, from Ivory Coast please we are here seeking for your help to assist us receive my fathers money that he deposited in A security company as a consignment box, we promise to provide all the documentation regarding to our fathers money, also we want to know that this is a deal between you and us and why we stated that is because the security company where the money is deposited dose not have any idea that it is money inside the box, they only know that is a family ternaries. Our father deposited the money during the time we run down to Ghana because of the war in our country Ivory Coast, after he deposited the money and made I and my brother Michael the next of kin to his inheritance he die because he was very seek before the war started so he lose all his straight immediately we arrive in Ghana, we took him to hospital here in Ghana the doctor saw his condition that he can not sauced but he will try to give him some treatment like a month thinking that o

Why we want you to receive this money is because we don’t know what to do with the money also to instruct us what to do with our father inheritance because we are not comfortable here in Africa with the money deposited in the security company, your duet is to claim the money because I and my sister is going to give you all the proof to claim the money from the security company to your country because you are going to request the security company to deliver the box to you in your country after you pay all the clearance that will be required by the security company to claim the box.

After the transaction, I and my brother will give you 40% from the total money as percentage in which your assistant expenses will be giving to you before we shearing the money, the total money deposited is $7.5Million Dollars, we have the deposit slip and certificate origin which was issued to us by our father before he die, we do not have any power of our to carry out the transaction alone, that is why I need your urgent help so that the money will benefit both of us.

Please you are advice to know that you are receiving the consignment box as our father business partner in euro, we will give you all the proof to claim the consignment box out from the security company, do not worry about us we will back you up here in Ghana until you receive the consignment box, then from money you will send us money to fly down to your country for the shearing of the money, because we will like to Invest part of our money in your country and we know with your Permission we will achieve something batter.

Thanks and God Blessed.
Grace Kenga.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam