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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: "Bank of New York Mellon Corporation" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <bankofnewyork-melloncorporation@mail.ua>
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2015 09:44:14 -0800
Subject: Notification

         Good Day
The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation
One Wall Street New York, NY 10286, USA.
Tel :  +1-917-503-9787
 
Attn :
 
This is to inform you that a notification email was sent to you (3) days ago to confirm if actually you were the one that authorized Mr. Paul Mark to represent you for the claiming of your funds on your behalf but We are so surprised for not receiving any response from you till this moment to confirm if actually Mr. John Walter was sent by you or not.
 
In our office (3) days ago, was a present of One Mr. Paul Mark of 122 Fitch Way, Sacramento, Ca. 95864 with a filing application, requesting that your funds should be released to him on your behalf as your true representative.He further Stated that the on-going process of transferring your funds directly into your designated Bank account be Terminated while the fund should be wired to his Bank account.
 
Below was the account details he presented to us to transfer your funds into.
 
BANK NAME: WELLS FARGO
BENEFICIARY OF THE ACCOUNT: MR.JOHN WALTER
BANK ACCOUNT: 250880939815
SWIFT CODE: USBKUS44IMT
ACCOUNT ROUTING NUMBER: 104000029
 
Though presently, we have not yet released your funds to Mr. Paul Mark as requested by him. Our office have ask Mr. Paul Mark to return back to the Bank after Independence Anniversary to enable us have a personal confirmation from you before going ahead with the releasing of your funds to him as instructed by you.We are sorry to have delayed your instruction in giving out your fund since we must adhere to the mode operation of this honorable bank by making sure his request is verified and confirmed by you.
 
If really Mr. Paul Mark was instructed by you to represent you for the claiming of your funds, then honestly what you did was wrong because you are supposed to have given us a week notice that someone is coming for the claiming of your funds $9,500,000.00 on your behalf so as for us to prepare for it.
 
Your confirmation to the above matter will be appreciated. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
 
Regards,
Thomas P. Gibbons (Chief Financial Officer)

Anti-fraud resources: