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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: "S Charles" <cbnpayunit@msn.com>
Reply-To: cbnpayunit1@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2005 18:12:15 +0000
Subject: payment order!!!!!!!!!!!!

CENTRAL BANK OF AMSTERDAM.
                                         
 
 PROF CHARLES  SMITH
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR 
YOUR PAYMENT ;Ref;NUMBERS 000999/CBN/7535/2005.
                                    URGENT

ATTENTION; Winner
                    DELIVERY OF YOUR BANKDRAFT
Thank God your payment is ready and issue and will be made to you via a classified bank draft. I want you to know that your draft payment value US$2.2M is ready and will be delivered to your door step with the address which you have provided your name and details corresponded with the one in our system.
The courier company agents will be arriving your door step within the next 24hrs with your draft, ensure that you are at home at 5:30pm to receive your draft in person and take it to your bank for confirmation.
The courier company that will deliver the draft to you is known as ( DEBENSON COURIER COMPANY) owned by the Nedelands Government.
The courier company has a policy and the policy is that for every delivery to your door step any where in the world, their express and over night charges is usually paid to them here before they can pick up the draft for delivery to you.
However, the courier company is charging you the sum of $250 dollars for express and over night delivery of the draft which you must make the payment immediately with my secretary's name via western union money transfer with the instructions as stated below. Here is the instructions..
NAME: AJIBOYE SAMSON KAYODE .
LOCATION; LAGOS-NIGERIA.
AMOUNT: US$250 DOLLARS.
TEXT QUESTION: WHAT FOR
ANSWER: DELIVERY
AFTER WHICH YOU WILL EMAIL ME THE MTCN #, SENDERS NAME AND ADDRESS.
 
Ensure that this is done in the next 30 mins so that we can meet up with the courier company time frame as regards their arrival time tomorrow at 5:30pm.Treat as top urgent and congratulations.
Yours faithfully,
Prof.Charles Smith.
Governor, Central Bank Of Nedelands CBN.

Anti-fraud resources: