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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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Fraud email example:

From: "Benjamin Oni" <ben4all@katamail.com> (may be fake)
Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 23:11:46 +0100
Subject: FOR YOUR URGENT ATTENTION

From:Benjamin. Oni
Add :Nigeria National Orientation Agency
Federal Ministry of Information
Radio House-Abuja.

Dear Sir,

I am Director of Civic registration and finance, Nigeria National Orientation Agency (NNOA) Federal Ministry of Information. I must start this email by acknowledging the wisdom in choosing to reveal my 2 years AMBITION since the National Identity Card project was kicked off some 2 years ago by a bill passed into law by the national assembly for the registration and identification of every Nigerian above the age of 18 years.

During our final verification exercise we discovered an excess allocation to our agency to the tune of Sixteen Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollar and we intend to keep this money for our personal use by fronting you as one of the foreign contractors due for payment. This sum (US$16.5Million) will be paid into your account as your contractual entitlement.

The good news is that precisely 1st of April, 2004, 2 years after, the government has started distributing the national identity card. The reason am writing you this mail is that theGovernment of my country,have approved allocation for payment due to all contractor (Foreign and Local) to the agency and this gives us opportunity to enrich ourselves and fulfill my ambition of becoming rich for the first time but I cannot achieve this without the support of a foreign partner.

We are handicapped in the circumstances, as the Civil service code of conduct does not allow us to operate offshore accounts hence your importance in the whole transaction. Therefore, we want to utilize this
opportunity, as a lot of foreign contractors will be paid in this quarter of the year to transfer the fund out of the country.

But do not disclose my identity or the actual nature of this transaction as I am still a serving officer in the ministry.In other to present you/your Company as the beneficiary of the sum of US$16.5M. For this
purpose we will incorporate your company and register you as a contractor with the Nigerian National Orientation Agency (NNOA).

We will also by virtue of our official positions secure for your company the necessary backup documentation that will facilitate the release/transfer of the fund into your account. These documents of course will be destroyed within 10-14 working days at the successful completion of the transfer. We want to assure you that your help will not in any way bring your company name into disrepute.

As soon as we confirm receipt of this money in your nominated bank account, my partner and I will come over to your country to arrange for our own share and
possibly invest part of this money in your country.
We have agreed that you will retain 20% of the entire US$16.5M for your efforts in this transaction, 80% for us here partners in nigeria.

Please reply urgently through my email address as we expect that the transaction will not take more than ten working days. Please note that this transaction must be top secret and let honesty and trust be our watchword throughout.

Best Regards,

Oni.B.

















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