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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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "Phillip Chukwu" <phillipchukwu1@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: phillipchukwu4u@compaqnet.fr
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2005 13:23:42 +0000
Subject: Hello Friend, Still Waiting For Your Response

From the Desk Of
MR PHILLIP CHUKWU.
Group General Manager of,
National Petroleum Investment Management Service (NAPIMS)
Of The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
email :{phillipchukwu4u@compaqnet.fr}

Good day and greetings to you, I guess this letter may come to you as a
surprise since i had no previous correspondence with you. I am MR PHILLIP
CHUKWU(Group General Manager)of the National Petroleum Investment Management
Service (NAPIMS), which is the upstream arm of NNPC and oversees federal
investments in the energy sector. Of the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC).Please carefully view and study this website
:http://www.pmcomm.com/opec1/nigeria4.htm Terms of Reference.

My term of reference involves the financial management and disbursement of
the proceeds from petroleum products and also the award of contracts to
multinational companies. 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 thefourth fiscal quarter of 2004 indicates that the
NNPC paid out a whooping sum of US$5.7B(Five Billion, Seven Hundred Million,
United States Dollars)to successful contracts beneficiaries. The NNPC is now
compiling beneficiaries to be paid .It will interest you to know that the
President has endorsed the resolution passed by the Senate that all foreign
contractors owed by the federal government should be paid, we will now seize
this good opportunity to purport you as one of the beneficiaries to be paid.

The crux of this letter is that the finance/contract department of the NNPC
deliberately over-inflated the contract value of thevarious contracts
awarded. These contracts have been executed and payment of the actual
contracts amount made to the foreign contractors. In the course of the
disbursements, this department has been able to track down the sum of US$45M
(Forty-Five 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).Which me and my colleagues now want to transfer out of the
country into a reliable foreign account for our personal use. Therefore it
becomes necessary to source for a foreign company/individual with the
capability to act as the original beneficiary of the contract, but if you
cannot for any reason handle this transaction i should be grateful if you
can introduce it to a reliable and trust worthy person in which in any case
your interest will be properly taken care of.

Meanwhile, my colleagues and i have decided to share the money in the
following ratio: 70% for my colleagues and i, then 25% for you the account
owner and 5% for all! local and international expenses that may arise in the
course of this transaction. Further details about this transaction will be
discussed in the subsequent correspondence. This transaction is strictly
confidential but 100% risks free. Note also that the particular nature of
your business is irrelevant to this transaction and this transaction is
expected to be concluded within 15 working days since all local contacts and
arrangements have been properly perfected for a smooth and successful
conclusion of this transaction. I with one of my colleagues may likely come
over to your country in order to enter into a TRUST BOND with you.This is
very necessary because of our last experience in 2003 with an Iranian Oil
Marchant who cleverly swindled us of the sum of (US$18M) after the money had
been transferred into his nominated bank account in Tehran, Iran. Based on
the foregoing, we shall like to establish a Memorandum of Understanding with
you. Hence the need for a TRUST BOND. and also for the increasing number of
Internet Scams associated with letters like these.

We shall be relying on your advise as regards investments of our share of
70% of the total sum of (US$45M) in any blue-chip Company in your country.Be
informed that this business is genuine and 100% safe considering the
high-powered government officials involved. If this proposal is acceptable
by you,please reply me back immediately with a letter of acceptance
alongwith your direct telephone(cell phone if any) and fax numbers only on
this email
address;{phillipchukwu4u@compaqnet.fr},then more details will be given to
you. Furthermore, I will suggest that you open a new and fresh account for
this transaction with no money in the account, but this account you must
have a 100% total control of, this is very important my dear good friend for
i hope to build a lifetime relationship with you and your family. Trust is
good, but Proof is better. Do give us a chance to prove the worthiness of
this project by giving us your unalloyed cooperation.We are requesting you
to co-operate with us since this is our only chance of claiming the fund for
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 account with your assistance to transfer this fund into for
investment purpose for our mutaul benefit.

Thank you in anticipation,
Yours faithfully,
Phillp Chukwu (Mr.)


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