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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: "MR ROBERT S MUELLER.III" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <fredowensoffice@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:56:42 -0700
Subject: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Anti-Terrorist And Monitory Crime Division.
Federal Bureau Of Investigation.
J.Edgar.Hoover Building Washington Dc
http://www.fbi.gov/libref/directors/directmain.htm

Attn: Beneficiary,

Compliments of the day, I Wish to inform you that your Payment $2.5M has been released and you will need to contact the Payment Officer Mr.Fred Owen with the informations as stated below. CONTACT INFORMATION NAME: Mr.Fred Owen EMAIL:( fredowensoffice@gmail.com ) Telephone: +234-8060774261 Do contact Mr.Fred Owen of the ATM PAYMENT CENTER with your details: FULL NAME: HOME ADDRESS: TELL: CELL: CURRENT OCCUPATION:AGE: Also please be informed that all neccesary Documents has been put in place all you will have to do is to send $150 USD for the Security Fee of your Fund which is to be sent to you via an ATM SWIFT CARD using First Flight Courier Service.we do await your response so we can move on with our Investigation and make sure your ATM SWIFT CARD gets to you. Thanks and hope to read from you soon.

Regards,

ROBERT S. MUELLER, III
DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535

Anti-fraud resources: