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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: "COMPENSATION UNIT" <lucy@specialtysupplies.com>
Reply-To: zenithbankplc1972@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2014 01:29:44 -0800
Subject: Congratulations.


- This mail is in HTML. Some elements may be ommited in plain text. -

ZENITH BANK COMPENSATION UNIT, IN AFFILIATION WITH THE UNITED NATIONS. Send acopy of your response to official
email:
zenithbankplc1972@yahoo.co.uk
or
zenithbankplc1973@yahoo.co.uk
ATTN:Sir/Madam,
This mail serves as a listening ear to the victims of scam the world
over. We have been having a meeting for the past 7 months which ended
2 days ago with the secretary general of the United Nations
Organization.
This message is to all the people that have been victimized / scammed in any part of the world, the United Nations have agreed to compensate them each with the sum of US$500,000. 00. from the recovered sum of $500 million so far. This includes every foreign contractors that may not have received their contract sum, and people that have had an unfinished transaction or international businesses that failed due to Government problems etc. We have a database of victims which you are among the list and that are why we are contacting you to receive your compensation accordingly.
This has been deliberated upon and is among our set of priorities in
making the world a better place. You are advised to contact Mr.Emmanuel Udom of ZENITH BANK PLC, as he is our representative in Nigeria, contact him immediately for your Cheque / International Bank Draft of USD$500,000. This funds are in Bank Draft for security purpose. It will be sent to you and you can
clear it in any bank of your choice.
Therefore, you should send him your full Name, telephone number, a
valid mailing address where you want him to send your Bank Draft to.
Contact Mr.Emmanuel Udom immediately for your Cheque:
Email:
..zenithbankplc1972@yahoo.co.uk
or
zenithbankplc1973@yahoo.co.uk
Tel : +234-8169-893-645
Making the world a better place
Regards,
Department of Public Information, United Nations 2014

Anti-fraud resources: