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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: "Mike Odieze" <mike_odieze5@msn.com>
Reply-To: mike_odieze1@myway.com
Date: Tue, 08 Nov 2005 17:53:01 +0000
Subject: VERYURGENT..

Dr.Mike Odieze
Treasury Controller,
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,
Lagos-Nigeria.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am the Treasury Controller, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
[NNPC] and a close associate of the immediate past Minister of Petroleum
Resources.
The Minister has mandated me to transfer the sum of US$88 millions
Recovered from over-invoiced contracts involving the Nigerian National
Petroleum
Corporation [NNPC] into several private accounts in Europe and United
States.
A total sum of US$68,000,000.00 has been transferred before the
Emergence of this present Civilian Administration,
leaving the balance of US$20,000,000.00.I have made proper
arrangement/documentation to transfer the balance which is retained in
a
coded account of the NNPC with the Central Bank o f Nigeria. We are
soliciting that you help us to receive the fund in trust. We Cannot
complete
this transaction smoothly without the participation of a foreign
partner who
would provide an account where the funds could be lodged. Since it is a
contract payment, the funds must be remitted to a foreign account.The
remittance of the funds requires little documentation. There is no risk
involved on your part in thistransaction since the Former Minister and I
have
covered this transaction with adequatecontract
and external credit documents from the beginning. What we require from
you by e-mail are via:
{i} Acceptance letter of this offer
{ii)Your company name/Address and confidential
Telephone and fax numbers
{iii} Convincing Honesty, Trustworthiness and
Willingness to abide by the requirements of this proposal paramount of
which is CONFIDENTIALITY. We have agreed that you will retain 20% of t
entire
US$20,000,00 0.00 for your effort in this transaction, 70% for us
partners here in Nigeria and the remaining 10% will be used for defrayal of
incidental cost in the course of this transfer. Please reply urgently
by e-mail as we expect that the transaction will not take more than ten
working days. And please note that this transaction must be top secret.

Best regards
Dr. Mike Odieze
(Treasury Controller NNPC)


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