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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: "From the desk of Mrs Cecilia Parker" <y.okamura@crownline.cn>
Reply-To: <united1988@live.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2011 00:55:49 +0400
Subject: Are you Dead or Alive?

From the desk of Mrs Cecilia Parker
Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Maputo Street, off Abidjan Street,
Wuse Zone 3,P.M.B. 130, Garki,
Abuja, Nigeria.
Legal Processes For Remitting the Sum Of: S$8,500.000.00
RE: ENSURING SMOOTH SUCCESS IN THIS TRANSACTION.
EMAIL US BACK --- unb@admin.in.th
Dear beneficiary ,
Good day. Firstly, I apologize for sending you this sensitive information via e-mail instead of a Certified mail/Post-mail. This is due to the urgency and importance of the information which we have received. I'm the personal secretary to the new Minister of Foreign Affairs and was directed by the Honorable Minister, to urgently confirm from you if actually you know one Mrs. Cynthia Edward who claims to be your business associate/partner here in Nigeria.
The said Mrs. Cynthia Edward is claiming to this office that you are dead and have Instructed that all relevant documentation/Information’s regarding your Payment/Transfer, be changed to her as the beneficiary of the payment short-listed among the foreign beneficiaries entitled to receive entitlements owed to them, by the Federal Republic of Nigeria. For your Information, this Government has approved the total amount of US$8.5M (EIGHT MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) ONLY, in your favor, prior to the federal Government instructions/mandate to offset all outstanding payments to the various legal foreign beneficiaries around the world and your payment file was affected. We need to confirm from you if it's really true that you are dead as made mention by your Associate.
You should note that, If we do not hear from you, it automatically means that you are actually dead and the information passed to us by Mrs. Cynthia Edward is correct. Hence, you are hereby requested to reply this mail immediately for confirmation, before we proceed with this payment and for us to know the true position of things with you so that we won't make any mistakes/errors in remitting your out-standing payment to a wrong person/account.
Lastly, you are advice to reconfirm the details of this message and get back immediately with these information's below so as to enable us cross check it with the one we have and to ensure that no mistake is been made and that you are still very much alive:
Your Full name.................
Your Telephone and Fax Numbers.......................
Your Age & Occupation.....................................
Your Office or Home Address............................
An attached Copy of your ID CARD.......................
Sex...........................Marital Status...........................
Note: This information's must be provided for reconfirmation to enable us make payment to you, hence, your funds will be remit/wire into her account.Your quick response will help this ministry a lot.
Best Regards.
Pastor Mrs Cecilia Parker
Secretary for:
Federal Minister of Foreign Affair.
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CONFIDENTIALITY & COMPLIANCE NOTICE!
This communication is confidential and is intended solely for the addressee. It is not to be forwarded to any other entity or copied without permission of the sender and may be protected by professional privilege or which disclosure is prohibited by law. Please notify the sender in the event you have received this communication in error.
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