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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: "Gbaguidi Francois" <gbaguidi-francois@norilsk.biz>
Reply-To: francois.gbaguidi@voila.fr
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2008 16:39:58 +0100
Subject: Contact

Complement of the Day!
I have been waiting for you to contact me for your Confirmable draft of
$950,000 (Nine hundred and fifty thousand United States dollars) kept for
you for charity. Due to my medical appointment in Isreal for treatment of my
terminal illness, I asked the bank to cash the equivelent of the draft and
keep it in a special trustee vault pending your contacting them for transfer
to your local bank account where you will have access to the funds.

Contact the paying bank with the information below;

Mr. Thomas Dossou
Director, Foreign Remittance Dept.
United Bank of Benin
Carre 182 Avenue Des Troi Banque
Cotonou ¡VRepublic Du Benin
Phone +229) 97476111
Fax +22921337529
Email: info_ubbenin@ubbi.com

Contact the bank immediately for the transfer of the funds and confirm the
following information;

YOUR FULL NAME AND POSTAL ADDRESS:
YOUR DIRECT TELEPHONE NUMBER:
YOUR OCCUPATION:
YOUR AGE AND SEX

Pray for my quick recovery and do not forget the work of charity by which
you are favoured.
Yours
Rev. Francois Gbaguidi

Anti-fraud resources: