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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 Milford <squeekie119@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: mrjmilfrdng@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:30:36 -0700 (PDT)
Subject:


Attn:
This is to confirm receiving an instruction from the presidential office and the accountant general of the federation on behalf of the Federal Accounts & Payment Department of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to contact you and make a transfer payment of the sum of US$5,500,000.00  from her repository account with us to your bank account. All the necessary documents supporting
 
The payment transfer, including the Payment Advice Slip is in our custody. Although, we have your name in our payment data, we would have a second confirmation by  you sending all your details to compare with what we have in our data.You should also send a photocopy of your valid identification international passport or driver's license. You should note that the fund is of high value and as a matter of our bank policy, due verification must be made to confirm you as the true beneficiary before transfer is made to your account.
 
Secondly, the completed Beneficiary Verification Form M4 informs the bank on how you would want to receive your funds. Therefore, you should complete the attached form and return it to our office as soon as possible. You should be informed that the payment would not be processed for remittance unless the verification form is completed and returned with a photocopy of your valid
identification. We hope you have been duly informed.
Yours sincerely,
 
John Milford



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