419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

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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.
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL <christine_sonina@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <rev.johnike@yahoo.es>
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 06:49:41 +0000
Subject: DID YOU AUTHORIZED ANYBODY WHO PRESENTED DOCUMENT OF CLAIM,
REPORTED TO HAVE SIGNED BY YOU FOR THE RELEASE OF YOUR PART-PAYMENT
OF$3.5MILLION USD ONLY

DID YOU AUTHORIZED ANYBODY WHO PRESENTED DOCUMENT OF CLAIM, REPORTED TO HAVE SIGNED BY YOU FOR THE RELEASE OF YOUR PART-PAYMENT OF$3.5MILLION USD ONLY

RECONFIRM BACK TO ME TO AVOID ANY IRREGULARITIES AS YOUR PAYMENT IS NOW READY TO BE DELIVERED TO YOU BY TELEGRAPHIC TRANSFER(Based on the instructions received this morning from the Credit Department that this fund has been awaiting collection for over 2 years without
anybody coming up for the Claim.).

BASED ON THAT YOU HAVE BEEN ADVISED NOT TO RESPOND TO ANY MAIL OR FAX CONCERNING YOUR FUND FROM ANY BODY WHO CLAIM TO BE OR YOUR AGENT AS YOUR PAYMENT IS NOW READY TO BE TRANSFERED IMMEDAITELY MY OFFICE
CONFIRM RECEIPT OF THE FOLLOWINGS.

Kindly re-confirm to me the followings:
1) Your full name.
2) Phone, fax and mobile #.
3) Company name, position and address.
4) Profession, age and marital status.

YOU ARE WARNED AND ADVISED TO FOLLOW-UP INSTRUCTIONS AS REGARDS TO YOUR FUND.THE ABOVE IS YOUR PAYMENT (REF.# .(000999/CBN/7535/2014.) ANY MAIL OR FAXES WITH OUT YOUR PAYMENT NUMBERS ,YOU SHOULD DISREGARDS IT.

Your faithfully.
reply to this e-mail

REV JOHN IKE

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam