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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
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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.

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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • ",500,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
  • "abuja" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
  • "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
  
• This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
  • thehonourablepaymastergeneral1@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: The Honourable Paymaster General <paymasterprdouglas31@msn.com>
Reply-To: <thehonourablepaymastergeneral2@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2008 01:04:49 +0000
Subject: ATTN: Dear Beneficiary....Are you ready to receive your Funds?



From: The Office of The Presidency,

The Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN).

Tel: Highly Confidential.

Address: 16 Walter Carrington Str. Ikoyi Lagos-Nigeria.

Head Quaters: ASO ROCK VILLA, ABUJA ANNEX OFFICE.

>From the Desk of Chief. Raymond P. Douglas GCON.

Official Web Account: thehonourablepaymastergeneral1@gmail.com

Our Ref: FGN/OHG/OXD1/2008

TELEX: FEDGOVNIG.

PAYMENT FILE: FGN/BEN/08.

Date: 20th/December/08.



*****24HRS SERVICE*****



ATTN: Dear Beneficiary,



Release/Transfer Notice for your due Funds (US$10,500,000:00).



Without taking much of your time, my name is Chief. Raymond P.Douglas,
the Honourable Paymaster General of The Federal Republic of Nigeria.



You are quite lucky to be contacted today by this authoritative office
for the Release and Transfer of your intercepted Funds valued
US$10,500,000 which some un-approved officials attempted to divert into
a secret Account in the middle East.



Presently, the said Fund is under the custody of this office because
our "Financial Monitoring Unit" (F.M.U) discovered that the said Funds
was about to be lodged into a different Account contrary to yours.



Before we can transfer the said Funds into your own Bank Account, you
must stop all further contact or communication with every other person
regarding your Funds because it is only this office that have the
legitimate right and mandate to Pay you accordingly.



We await your immediate response via this email Reply to: (thehonourablepaymastergeneral1@gmail.com)





Officially Sealed,

Chief. Raymond P. Douglas.

The Honourable Paymaster General

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam