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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: Rick Muller <divinegrace75654@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Rick Muller <rickmuller@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2016 07:41:23 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Your Immediate Response Will Be Appreciated


Greetings,

I came across your email while searching for a foreign partnership. I am Mr. Rick Muller, Director of bills/exchange in our Bank here in Cote d'voire. In my department, I discovered an abandoned sum of $10.5m (Ten Million, Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars) in an account that belonged to our deceased client who was a national of your country. I have been expecting his next-of-kin to come over and file a claim over the fund because we can not release it unless somebody applied for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our Security guidelines.

Unfortunately, nobody has come forward to claim this money. It is based on this I decided to establish a cordial business relationship with you, hence by contacting you.I want you to stand as the next of kin to our deceased client so that the funds can be remitted into your account in any country of your choice. Moreover, i do not want the money to go into the government account as unclaimed bills. The Security law and guidelines here stipulates that any account abandoned or is dormant for a period of years, is deemed closed and all money contained therein forfeited to the government treasury account.

Now, it is being speculated that the above sum will be transferred into the government account as an unclaimed fund before the end of this month, when nobody come forward to lay claim. The reason for requesting your assistance, is occasioned by, the fact that the deceased was a foreigner, and I have access to his detailed bio data which you will hold as a weapon to present yourself as the beneficiary of the fund.

The mode of sharing after a successful transfer of the money into your account, shall be 60% to me and for the role you will be expected to play in this deal, you will take 40%. More details shall be giving to you as soon as i receive your positive response. 

Regards,
Rick Muller.

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