419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

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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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "contact the atm card center" (this phrase is often used in the ATM card payment scam)
- "western union" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "million united states 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)
- "economic and financial crime commission" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "economic and financial crimes commission" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "farida mzamber waziri" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "courier service" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
- "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
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.
- drjditalia.ftoecobankplc@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "EFCC Cyber Crime Division" <efcc.complaincenterline@gmail.com>
Reply-To: efcc.complaincrimecentre@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:56:08 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Counter-terrorism Division and Cyber Crime Division.. Contact now,,
,

Attention : EFCC Cyber Crime Division
From: ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION
Counter-terrorism Division and Cyber Crime Division

Attention Beneficiary,

Records show that you are among one of the individuals and organizations who are yet to receive
their overdue payment from overseas which includes those of Lottery/Gambling, Contract and
Inheritance. Through our Fraud Monitory Unit we have also noticed that over the past you have been
transacting with some imposers and fraudsters who have been impersonating the likes of Prof.
Soludo of the Central Bank Of Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Aziza, Frank, Anderson, none officials of
Oceanic Bank, Zenith Banks, Kelvin Young of HSBC, Ben of FedEx, Ibrahim Sule, Dr. Usman
Shamsuddeen and some imposters claiming to be The Courier service.

The Cyber Crime Division of the EFCC gathered information from the Internet Crime Complaint Center
(ICCC) formerly known as the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) of how some people have lost
outrageous sums of money to these imposers. As a result of this we hereby advise you to stop
communication with any one not referred to you by us.

We have negotiated with the Federal Ministry of Finance that your payment $6.1 million will be
released to you via a custom pin based ATM card with a maximum withdrawal limit of $5,000 a day
which is powered by Visa Card and can be used anywhere in the world were you see a Visa Card Logo
on the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM). We have advised that this should be the only way at which
you are to receive your payment because it’s more guaranteed, since over $5 billion was lost on
fake cheque last year 2008.

We guarantee 100% receipt of your payment, because we have perfected everything in regards to the
release of your $6.1 million United States Dollars to be 100% risk free and free from any hitches
as it’s our duty to protect citizens of the United States of America, United Kingdom, Asia and
India (This is as a result of the mandate from Nigeria Government to make sure all debts owed to
citizens of American which includes Inheritance, Contract, Gambling/Lottery etc are been cleared
for the betterment of the current economic status of the nation and its citizens as he has always
believed “Our Time for Change has come” because “Change can happen”).

Below are few list of tracking numbers you can track from UPS website to confirm people like you
who have received their payment successfully.

Name : Donna L. Vargas: UPS Tracking Number: 1Z757F991598420403 (www.ups.com)
Name : Rovenda Elaine Clayton: UPS Tracking Number: 1Z757F991596606592 (www.ups.com).

To redeem your fund you are hereby advised to contact the ATM Card Center via email for their
requirement to proceed and procure your Approval of Payment Warrant and Endorsement of your ATM
Release Order on your behalf which will cost you $450.00 only nothing more and no hidden fees as
everything else has been taken cared of by the Federal Government including taxes, custom paper
and clearance duty so all you will ever need to pay is $450.00 only.
Contact Information.

Name: Dr. James Ditalia
Email: drjditalia.ftoecobankplc@gmail.com
Do contact Dr. James Ditalia of the ATM Card Center via his contact details above and furnish him
with your details as listed below:

Your full Name:
Your Address:
Home/Cell Phone:
Occupation:
Age:

On contacting him with your details your files would be updated and he will be sending you the
payment information in which you will use in making payment of $450.00 via Western Union Money
Transfer for the procurement of your Approval of Payment Warrant and Endorsement of your ATM
Release Order. After which the delivery of your ATM card will be effected to your designated home
address without any further delay, extra fee or any authority raising eyebrow.

Upon receipt of payment the delivery officer will ensure that your package is sent within 24
working hours. Because we are so sure of everything we are giving you a 100% money back guarantee
if you do not receive your ATM CARD Shipment Confirmation within the next 24hrs after you have
made the payment for shipping.

Once again we are so sure of you receiving your payment at no any other cost as we have taking it
upon our duty to monitor everything in other to cub cyber crime that is perpetrated by those
impostors.

Thanks and hope to read from you soon.

Note: Disregard any email you get from any impostors or offices claiming to be in possession of
your ATM card, you are hereby advice only to be in contact with Dr. Daniel Smith of the ATM card
center who is the rightful person to deal with in regards to your payment and forward any emails
you get from impostors to this office via the above fax number so we could act upon it
immediately. Help stop cyber crime.

Best Regard,

Mrs. Farida Mzamber Waziri (AIG RTD)
( Chairman Economic And Financial Crime Commission).

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam