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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: "Adebolaji Cole." <emaildirects@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 09:16:20 -0700
Subject: LETTER OF GOOD INTENT..

Dear Applicant,

I find quite difficult to retrieve your email address after our last
verification exercise. Though, the $20 Million does exist in your name,
nevertheless, you're not the legitimate beneficiary of the fund. To be
honest with you, there's no more inheritance entitlement left in Africa
that is still claimable; all financial assets owned by foreign investors in
the 60s was referred to the custody of the treasury department owing to
poor database management system. Over the past few decades, 95% of the
foreign inheritance payments released by the government were Ghost Claims
orchestrated by corrupt politicians, and through inheritance game plan,
these loots were approved to their foreign cohorts as inheritance
settlements.

It's confirmed that through inheritance channels, an estimated $5bn is
stolen from government agencies and warehoused in offshore accounts
annually. According to crime analysts, insight was also drawn from the use
of ghost claim to bestow looted funds to foreigners in the formation of
what is widely known as e-Inheritance scam. Today, internet miscreants have
exposed the existence of "Ghost Claim" by using this same channel for
fraudulent
activities of which a host of persons are victims having read about the
existence of fund misconducts in Africa. It might surprise you to know that
the said $20 Million, which I believe was bestowed to you emanated from an
over invoiced oil contract and was allocated to you as your inheritance
entitlement.

Prior to this time, I usually refer such funds for confiscation as part of
my job description, but I fear that this fund may still not get to the
federal reserve owing to the level of corrupt activities in the treasury
department; for this reason, I therefore make this deal offer to you. If
you would donate 50% of the said fund to my late mother's orphanage home as
a foreign donor, and keep 50% for yourself upon receipt of the $20 Million,
I will exercise my umpire immunity to endorse you as the legitimate
beneficiary of the fund. If you're interested, please indicate by providing
your phone number for further details.

Thanks in anticipation, I hope to read from you at your earliest
convenience.

Yours Faithfully,
ADEBOLAJI COLE.
Chief Investigator, Foreign Payment Division.
Federal Code Of Conduct Bureau.

Anti-fraud resources: