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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: JOHN SMITH <talkofsmith1@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 09:10:01 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL


MR.SMITH JOHN
FEDERAL MINISTRY OF
PETROLEUM AND MINERAL
RESOURCES.
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA,
LAGOS, NIGERIA
WEST AFRICA.


Dear SIR,

RE:REQUEST FOR URGENT CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP IN RESPECT OF
THE TRANSFER OF $25,500,000.00(TWENTY-FIVE MILLION FIVE HUNDRED
AMERICAN DOLLARS)INTO YOUR ACCOUNT.

I,on behalf of my other colleagues from different Federal Government
of Nigeria owned parastatals decided to solicit your assistance as
regards the transfer of the above stated amount into your bank account.
This fund arose from the overinvoicing of various contracts awarded in
my parastatal to certain foreign contractors sometime ago. We as
holders of sensitive positions in our various parastatal, were mandated
by the federal governmentto scrutinise all payments made to foreign
contractors, and discovered that some of the contracts they executed
were grossly over invoiced, either by omission or commission. Also, we
discovered that the sum of $33,000,000.00(thirty three million American
dollars only) was lying in a suspense account,although the foreign
contractors were fully paid their entitlements after executing the said
contracts.We all agreed that the over-invoiced amount be transferred
into a bank account provided by a foreign partner, as the code of
conduct of federal civil service does not allow us to operate foreign
accounts. However, we have suceeded in transferring some of the monies,
precisely US$7.5(Seven million five Hundred American Dollars) into a
foreign account in united State of America,but unfortunately the
provider of the account has severed all forms of communication with us
as he has refused to adhere to our earlier mutual
agreement,insisting that the total amount be paid into his nominated
bank account before disbursement will take effect.

We are therefore seeking your assistance based on the balance amount
US$25.5M which can be speedily processed and fully remitted into your
nominated bank account. On successful remittance of the funds into your
account, you will be compensated with 20% of of the amount for your
assistance and services.
This transaction is closely knitted and in view of our sensitive
positions we cannot afford a slip.
I assure you that this transaction is 100% risk free.We will avail you
with our identities as regards our respective office when relationship
is fully established and smooth operation commences. I am at your
disposition to entertain any questions from you in respect of this
transaction, so, contact me immediately through the above email address
for further information on the requirements and procedure. Please note
that this is a DEAL and confidentiality is of very great importanceb
for security reasons.

Please treat with strict confidenlity and utmost urgency.
N.B: Your telephone and fax numbers are needed for easy
communication.
Best regards,

MR.SMITH JOHN.
CIVIL SERVANT
FEDERAL MINISTRY OF
PETROLEUM AND MINERAL
RESOURCES



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