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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

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  (+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.

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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:
  • "trunk box" (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)
  • "trunk boxes" (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)
  • "million us dollars" (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)
  • "00,000.00" (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)
  • "diplomatic courier" ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
  • "the diplomat " ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
  • "courier company" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
• 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.
  • africanunion_f@yahoo.it (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "AFRICAN UNION FUND RECOVERY" <afriunrecovery3@centrum.sk>
Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:27:14 +0100
Subject: YOUR STOLEN FUND RECOVERED;


AFRICAN UNION RECOVERY,
DEPARTMENT OF INT'L AFFAIRS
1 Horse Guards Road,London,SW1A 2HQ.

Respected Beneficiary,   

I am the Director of International Affairs in the African Union Recovery office in London, Britain.Recently, the British government has received series of complaints regarding the Existence of huge sums of money that are trapped and left unclaimed in Most African Banks and Financial organizations, especially in Nigeria.The African Union External Affairs department (My Office) was mandated by the British government to go to Africa to investigate and recover all Funds belonging to United States, European, Asian and Australian
Nationals that are trapped in African Banks and finance houses.

On our investigation in Nigeria, we discovered a file NO;
234/98GT/UB/OT22/01 with the total sum of Five Million US Dollars
(USD5, 000,000.00) with your name as the Beneficiary. It was further
Discovered that some unknown officials of the Bank have fraudulently
Diverted some part of your total sum to unknown accounts in the past leaving only USD5Million in the account.

My office has recovered this amount (USD5M) and we want you to receive it Without any waste of time while we further continue our investigation to get those fraudulent officials who were involved in diverting some part of the funds.Because of the problems associated with Bank wire transfers, we have Decided that all the recovered funds will be delivered to the Beneficiaries in cash to avoid the issues of fund transfer requirements. Under this arrange, we have secretly packed and sealed all the recovered funds in Galvanized Trunk boxes and we shall engage the services of a Diplomatic Courier Firm that will handle the delivery of the trunks to your area of destination.

The Courier Firm uses Diplomats to deliver vital consignments for safety purposes. Though, for security reasons, we will want neither the courier company nor the Diplomat to know the content of the trunk boxes.With this arrangement, you will receive your fund under a hitch-free claim process as you will not be subjected to Bank requirements.We will request you to reconfirm your FULL NAMES, ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBERS to us and then we shall give you further details on the delivery.
 
Thanks,

Mr.Robert Scott.
Email:africanunion_f@yahoo.it
(Director of Int'l Affairs)
AFRICAN UNION RECOVERY.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam