419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (YYYY-MM)

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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.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +2348034028486 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: Central Bank of Nigeria <andyak1@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: officeoffice404@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:41:55 -0400
Subject: Did you sent any body to change your account to claim your
inheritance /contract sum of US$30 million?

--
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
Tinubu Sqare, P.M.B. 12194,
Lagos Island Lagos Nigeria.

Attn: Dear Beneficiary,

Did you sent any body to change your account to claim your inheritance
/contract sum of US$30 million?

One Mr. EDWARD D VAN ECK from Australia, come to my office today with a
letter containing his account details to claim on your behalf your
inheritance / contract sum of $30 million USD which was recently
approved in your favour as instructed by the office of Presidency.
He claimed that he is your business partner.

He gave us his account information as stated here under to transfer the
fund.

Bank name: WESTPAC BANK
Address: 28 Bair Street Leongatha Victoria 3953 Australia
Acct name: EDWARD D VAN ECK
Acct no: 543490
Routing: BSB733237

For security reasons, we want to confirm from you first if his claim is
true, if you sent him, before we can transfer the fund to his account in
Australia hence the our bank will not be held responsible for any wrong
transfer if we do not hear from you after 7 days.

Reconfirm to us quickly with;
Your name,
Address,
Telephone,
Bank details.

Waiting your response and please call or send text message to me on
Telephone number +234 8034028486 as you responded to this mail for
urgent attention.

Regards,

William Kennedy Ubaka
Director,
Foreign Remittance,
Central Bank of Nigeria

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam