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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: "Payment Release" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <pay_unit@w.cn>
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:23:14 -0300
Subject: YOUR PAYMENT IS READY

Attention : We have this day May 12th 2011, received a payment credit instruction from World bank representative office in Switzerland to credit your account with your compensation funds allocated in your name to the tune of $4.2 million (Four million two hundred thousand united states dollars) from their reserve joint accounts of World Bank/United Nations with us here. We are told that you are one of the listed citizen that fall into the victim of scam by Africans some time ago and have to accept this amount as your full compensation from the World Bank /United Nations as you have been approved to claim this fund. However, you shall required to re-confirm the following details as specified below to effect the wire transfer aforementioned above to your designated account details: {1} Your Full Name and Address.: {2}. Your Confidential Tel, Cell and Fax.: {3). Your Bank name and address.: {4). Your A/c Name and A/c Numbers.: (5). Your Swift Code / Routing Numbers.: Please do provide the above information accurately email:(pay_unit@w.cn), because this office cannot afford to be held liable for any wrong transfer of funds or liability of funds credited into a ghost account. Thanks for your co-operation while looking forward to serving you with the best of our service. Thanks for your co-operation. Best Regards, Dr. Spear Lewis

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