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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: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:21:02 +0000
Subject: YOUR ATM CARD


ATTN

THIS IS TO NOTIFY YOU THAT PART OF YOUR FUNDS HAS BEING LODGE INTO AN
AUTOMATED MACHINE CARD (ATM) YOUR CARD WAS LOADED LAST WEEK WITH

THE SUM OF $1.5MILLION UNITED STATE DOLLARS HERE IN MY BANK AND IS READY AND
AVAILABLE FOR DELIVERY BUT NEEDED TO BE RE-ACTIVATED BEFORE IT CAN BE
DISPATCH TO YOUR MAILING ADDRESS GIVEN AS THIS IS TO AVOID ELECTRONIC
PROBLEM WHEN WITHDRAWING MONEY FROM YOUR CARD.
THE ACTIVATION NEEDS TO BE DONE,WE NEED TO GET YOUR PIN CODE
ACTIVATED,WITHOUT RE-ACTIVATING THIS PIN CODE YOU CANNOT WITHDRAW MONEY FROM
YOUR CARD,YOU ARE THEREFORE ADVICE TO PAY THE SUM $650USD TO GET YOUR PIN
NUMBERS ACTIVATED,WE ARE ALSO GIVING YOU AN ASSURANCE

THAT AS SOON AS THIS ABOVE AMOUNT IS BEING PAID THE PIN NUMBERS OF YOUR CARD
WILL BE ACTIVATED AND SENT TO YOU EVEN BEFORE YOUR CARDS ARRIVE AT YOUR
DOOR-STEP.
MORE ALSO YOU HAVE TO NOTE THAT THE DELIVERY OF YOUR CARD TO YOU AFTER PIN
CODE HAVE BEING ACTIVATED WILL TAKE THE DELIVERY SERVICES THREE WORKING DAYS
TO GET TO YOUR GIVEN ADDRESS.
I AWAIT YOUR URGENT RESPONSES TO THIS LETTER,


REGARDS
DR.PAUL ACQUAH

Anti-fraud resources: