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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <ellisyan@rogers.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2011 08:58:29 +0900
Subject: FROM THE DESK OF THE UNITED NATIONS

Dear Beneficiary

Greetings to you and hope you are doing great. Congrats for being part of the selected few the United Nation has decided to compensate for have fallen a victim of scams.

The Union after a a meeting with several governmetal officials from different country on the 20th January 2011 has agreed to compensate you with the sum of $500,000 USD cashiers check.

We Employ you to contact Mr. Bryan for the collection of your check that I authorized to be released to you as soon as you contact him regarding this issue.

I will like you to please comply with everything Mr. Bryan tells you because he is trust worthy that is why we left the check in his care.


CONTACT: Mr. Bryan Ellis
ADDRESS: 15 Mill mark Groove SE14 6RL, Newcross London.
Groove SE14 6RL,
EMAIL: ellisyan@rogers.com
TEL: +44 702 403 0258


Therefore, you should send him your full Name and telephone number/your address where you want him to send the draft to you. Thanks and God bless you and your family. I am very busy now I may not reply to any email for some time.

Best Regards,

Mr. Ban Ki-moon
United Nations Secretary-General

Anti-fraud resources: