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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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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: =?utf-8?q?Shamsudeen=20Usman?= <shamsudeen.usman61@yahoo.com.co>
Reply-To: susman14@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 09:19:37 -0800 (PST)
Subject: FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FINANCE


¡Tengo nueva dirección de correo!Ahora puedes escribirme a:shamsudeen.usman61@yahoo.com.co



- ATTENTION: SIR/MADAM FROM THE RECORDS OF OUTSTANDING FOREIGN PAYMENTS DUE FOR RELEASE WITH BANKS IN NIGERIA, YOUR NAME AND CONTACT WAS DISCOVERED AS NEXT ON THE LIST OF THE OUTSTANDING FOREIGNERS WHO'S CONTRACT PAYMENTS ARE STILL HANGING ON AND WHO HAVE NOT YET RECEIVED THEIR CONTRACT PAYMENTS. I WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR PAYMENT IS BEING PROCESSED AND WILL BE RELEASED TO YOU AS SOON AS YOU RECONFIRM YOUR PAYMENT DETAILS SO THAT WE CAN AUTHENTICATE THE CLAIM LEGALLY. ALSO NOTE THAT FROM OUR RECORD THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA HAS ONLY MAPPED OUT THE SUM OF US$10,700,000.00 TEN MILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) TO BE RELEASED TO YOU FOR NOW, AFTER WHICH THE REMAINING PART OF YOUR CLAIMS WILL BE RELEASED TO YOU. KINDLY RE-CONFIRM TO US THE FOLLOWINGS: YOUR FULL NAME AND MAILING ADDRESS, TELEPHONE, FAX AND MOBILE NUMBER, OCCUPATION, AGE, BANK $ ROUTING NUMBER,BANK NAME & ADDRESS. IN RECEIPT OF THE ABOVE INFORMATION, YOUR PAYMENT WILL BE APPROVED AND PAID TO YOU OR WIRED TO YOUR NOMINATED BANK ACCOUNT, YOU ARE ADVISED TO GET BACK TO ME IMMEDIATELY FOR MORE CLARIFICATIONS. YOURS TRULY MINISTER:DR shamsudeen usman FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FINANCE NOTE: That we have made the lodgement of your funds in our overseas correspondence BANK OF AMERICA in US for onward transfer to your bank account. Please get back to me via this email: susman14@yahoo.com


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