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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: William Makolo <williammakolo26@gmail.com>
Reply-To: williammakolo247@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2023 03:48:55 -0700
Subject: Urgent Responds

My Beloved friend

My name is Dr.William Makolo, an account manager with African
Development Bank (ADB) I retrieved your contact address in my search
for the next of kin to a deceased customer of our bank, who lived and
died in Toronto from Cardiac Arrest in 2012. Unfortunately, this
customer died intestate, leaving his bank account with an open
beneficiary status. All efforts made by our bank to locate his
relatives have been unsuccessful, so I decided to write to you as I
have monitored this account in the bank for almost ten years now and
no one has come forth with any claim.

I want to present you to our bank as his next of kin to claim this
dormant account worth USD 10.764 Million (Ten Million Seven Hundred
Sixty Four Thousand US Dollars) You will apply to the bank as an
extended relative to the deceased customer while I work from the
inside to ensure all needed information and evidence is provided to
you to back up your claim. The account has an open beneficiary
status, which is why I have contacted you to come forth and claim the
funds as the next of kin and beneficiary. it is easy for you to become
his official next of kin.

If we do not claim the funds now, the funds would be reverted to the
system as the unclaimed estate at the expiration of a 10-year dormancy
period I assure you that this transaction will be handled under due
inheritance procedures, and every necessary legitimate arrangement
will be put in place to make you the real beneficiary of the
inheritance funds. It also requires all confidentiality at this stage,
and I believe you are ready to keep this discreet until you can claim
the funds from the bank.

Once the funds are released to you, they will be shared between the
two of us Please send your response indicating readiness to proceed
with this transaction. Then I will give you more details, and we shall
have an in-depth discussion regarding the successful completion of
this transaction.

I await your response.

Sincerely,
Dr.William Makolo.

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