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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: "Mr Ben S Bernanke" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <offe09@blumail.org>
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 21:33:11 -0700
Subject: From Tan Seng Chew. Read the attachment below.

Federal Reserve Bank New York\par \par \par Attn: Beneficiary:\par \par \par This is to inform you that we have on the 31st day of March, 2011 received a payment credit instruction from the Federal Government of Nigeria to credit your account with your full Inheritance fund of US$10.5Million from the Nigerian reserve account with our, Federal Reserve Bank New York\par \par However, you shall required to provide the followings datas below:\par \par Full Name:\par Address: \par Telephone:\par Mobile:\par Fax:\par Email:\par \par Bank Name:\par Address:\par Account No.:\par Routing No.:\par Swift Code:\par Account Name:\par \par Please do provide the above information accurately, because this office cannot afford to be held liable for any wrong transfer of funds or liability of funds credited into a ghost account.\par \par Thanks for banking with Federal Reserve Bank New York while we looking forward to serving you with the best of our service.\par \par \par Thanks and God bless you.\par \par Regards,\par \par Yours in Service,\par \par Mr.Ben S. Bernanke\par Chairman Federal Reserve Board New York \lang1033\f1\fs20\par }

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