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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: "FBI Headquarters In Washington" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <christopher.williams11@gala.net>
Date: Sun, 5 Sep 2010 03:51:46 +0300
Subject: FBI IMPORTANT ALERT- READ ASAP

Anti-Terrorist And Monetory Crimes Division
FBI Headquarters In Washington, D.C.
Federal Bureau Of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
Washington, DC USA


Attn: Beneficiary,

This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have thoroughly completed an investigation with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you legally won the sum of $2.5million USD from a Lottery Company outside the United States of America. During our investigation we discovered that your e-mail address won the money from an Online Balloting System and we have authorized this winning to be paid to you via a Certified Cashier's Check.


Normally, it will take up to 10 business days for an International Check to be cashed by your local bank. We have successfully notified this company on your behalf that funds are to be drawn from a registered bank within the United States Of America so as to enable you cash the check instantly without any delay, henceforth the stated amount of $2.5million USD has been inform of Certified check.


We have completed this investigation and you are hereby approved to receive the winning prize as we have verified the entire transaction to be Safe and 100% risk free, due to the fact that the funds have been inform of certifiecd check you will be required to settle the following bills directly to the Lottery Agent in-charge of this transaction whom is located in Lagos, Nigeria. According to our discoveries, you were required to pay for the following -


(1) Cashier's Check Conversion Fee ( Fee for converting the Wire Transfer payment into a Certified Cashier's Check )
(2) Shipping Fee's ( This is the charge for shipping the Cashier's Check to your home address )


The total amount for everything is $400.00 Four Hundred-US Dollars). We have tried our possible best to indicate that this $400.00 should be deducted from your winning prize but we found out that the funds cannot be accessed by anyone apart from you the winner, therefore you will be required to pay the required fee's to the Agent in-charge of this transaction via Western Union Money Transfer Or Money Gram.


In order to proceed with this transaction, you will be required to contact the agent in-charge ( MR.CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS ) via e-mail. Kindly look below to find appropriate contact information:


CONTACT AGENT NAME: MR. CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS

E-MAIL ADDRESS: christopher.williams11@gala.net


You will be required to e-mail him with the following information:


FULL NAME:
ADDRESS:
CITY:
STATE:
ZIP CODE:
DIRECT PHONE NUMBER:
CURRENT OCCUPATION:
MONTHLY INCOME:


You will also be required to request Western Union or Money Gram details on how to send the required $400.00 in order to immediately ship your prize of $2.5million USD via Certified Cashier's Check drawn from Bank Of America, also include the following transaction code in order for him to immediately identify this transaction.


This letter will serve as proof that the Federal Bureau Of Investigation is authorizing you to pay the required $400.00 ONLY to Mr. CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS via information in which he shall send to you, if you do not receive your winning prize of $2.5million USD we shall be held responsible for the loss and this shall invite a penalty of $3,000 which will be made PAYABLE ONLY to you (The Winner).


Mr. Robert Mueller
Special Agent.
Washington DC FBI.
Room, 7367
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001


Please find below an authorized signature which has been signed by the FBI Director- Robert Mueller, also below is the FBI NSB (National Security Branch Seal)


NOTE: In order to ensure your check gets delivered to you ASAP, you are advised to immediately contact MR. CHRISTOPHER WIILLIAMS via contact information provided above and make the required payment of $400.00 to information in which he shall provide to you.

Anti-fraud resources: