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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
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:
- "money gram" (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. )
- "mtcn" (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. )
- "huge amount 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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "power of attorney" (with your bank details and a power of attorney form criminals sometimes empty bank accounts)
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.
This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- mrpatrickokoye@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "DR P. OKOYE INFORMATION" <yreuiwtwfjvhvdoeujbhkj@yahoo.pt>
Reply-To: "DR P. OKOYE INFORMATION" <mrpatrickokoye@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 08:20:43 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Attn good friend, I am sending this e-mail to you to find out the
truth before i go ahead..

Â THIS MAIL IS ONLY FOR THE OWNER OF THIS E-MAIL ADDRESS.Â How are you today my good friend? Â Â Please can you confirm this to us before we make a mistake, somebody called Mr. Alexander Lewis Sergei called emailed us and called me today with this number Â #323-925-5635. saying that he is your Youngest brother whom you have set as your next of kin, that you have giving him your power of attorney to make claims of your total $500,000.00/USD deposited in this office on your behalf that you are no more capable to complete this transfer any any longer because of the required $38 charged for signing of your Final Release Order Approval.
Then I now asked him why you did not even send me an email to let me know what he has just said now! My dear he told us that you are in the hospital that you canâ€™t get out of your bed to email me or do a thing like that, he even ask me to call you on the telephone to confirm that from you that you canâ€™t get out of Â bed to access your email, my dear so I told him to give me 6:hours to see if I can get in touch with you at all before making change of your transfer files to his name and his giving address. you asked him to receive the funds on your behalf. He forwarded his address for us to send the MTCN# direct to him;Â @Address: #Glen Holly, Los Angeles, California 900683.PH: 323-925-5635.
But we are not sure about this yet. Â So that is why i am writing to know if this is true or not. Â But in regarding the fee of $38 which you are supposed to send earlier, I tried letting him know of the required fee, and Â he have demands that i should give him information to send out the needed $38 by Money gram service. So that we can update the payments then send the mtcn numbers to him since you are no more capable to complete your transfer because of the $38.00 charged.Â Please this fund is not something we could just make any silly mistake or send to the wrong person because the money is huge amount of money. So this man is getting us confusing on what he is saying.Â I am sending this mail to you to find out the truth before i make any mistake. I have told Â him to give me 2 days to complete and be satisfy for my investigation, but i have decided that if i didnt hear from you/anyone now till the next 2days i will collect the $38 from him and hand over everything to him as instructed.

These confirmation are required from you to be sure this is not ROBOT:
Your full name:..........Country:......City:.........Current home/office address:..........Available telephone number:............ATTACH OF YOUR ID/PHOTO:..................
I await your urgent respond A.S.A.P. Email on my private email address: mrpatrickokoye@yahoo.com

Thanks,Dr. Patrick Okoye: I accept yahoo-massanger, Chart ID is:(mrpatrickokoye) Add,Money gram Â Bonanza payment consultant: Center

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam