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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: mrmichaelabiodun0@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2012 22:13:38 +0800
Subject: PERSONAL LETTER.

FROM THE DESK OF
DIRECTOR, FUNDS CO-ORDINATOR
FINANCE/CONTRACT DEPARTMENT OF
NIGERIAN NATIONAL PETROLUEM COMPANY (NNPC)
V/ISLAND, LAGOS ,
NIGERIA.

RE: CONTRACT NO: NNPC/PED/401/2011

Although this mail might come to you as a surprise, since it is from
someone you do not know or seen before, but base upon recommendation I
gathered about your person, I had to contact you for your assistance to
transfer fund into your account.I am the Director, Funds Coordinator of
the Finance/Contract Department of the Nigerian national petroleum
corporation (NNPC) My office is also saddled with the responsibility of
screening, categorization and prioritization of projects embarked upon by
NNPC
as well as feasibility studies for selected projects and supervising the
projects consultants involved.

A breakdown of the fiscal expenditure by this office as at the end of the
fourth fiscal quarter of 2009 indicates that the NNPC paid out a whooping
sum of US$936M (Nine Hundred and Thirty Six Million, United States
Dollars) to successful contract beneficiaries. The NNPC is now compiling
beneficiaries to be paid at the last fiscal quarter of 2010. The crux of
this letter is that the finance/contract department of the NNPC
deliberately over-inflated the contract value of the various contracts
awarded. In the course of disbursement, this department has been able to
track down the sum of US$100M (One Hundred Million, U.S. Dollars) as the
over-invoiced sum.

This money is now lying and floating in the NNPC domiciliary account with
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). My colleagues and I want to quickly
transfer this fund to a safe nominate foreign account for possible
investment abroad; this is the reason why I contacted you. We are not
allowed as a matter of government policy to operate any Foreign account
because of our status as civil/public servants. Hence
the need to solicit for your full Banking details to enable us Transfer
this money into your account on Swift Code. We have also evolved a sharing
formula as follows: - (1) 30% for the foreign account owner (2) 60% for l
and my colleagues (3) 10% will be set aside to defray all incidental
expenses both locally and internationally during the course of this
transaction. Furthermore,

we shall be coming over to your country when the money is finally in your
account and we shall be relying on your advice as
regards to investment of our share. Be informed that, this business is
genuine and 100% safe considering the high-powered government officials
involved. Send by Email attached the following information:-
(1) YOUR COMPANY NAME AND ADDRESS, BANK NAME, ADDRESS AND ACCOUNT NUMBER
(2)YOUR TELEPHONEAND FAX NUMBER FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION.
This is to affect the Swift Transfer of this fund into your account in
less than Seven (7) working days.


While looking forward to a healthy business relationship with you.

Sincerely,
Mr. Michael Abiodun

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