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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: "Laurence Carter" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <officialdesk@skymail.mn>
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2011 18:45:48 +0300
Subject: Receive Your Compensation Fund Payment

Public information Center World Bank
From The Desk of Mr. Laurence Carter
Director, Small and Medium Enterprises,
The World Bank,
E-mail: officialdesk@skymail.mn
=========================================
 
 
 
Attention: Dear Beneficiary,
 
 
How are you doing? Hope all is well with you and your family. You may not understand why this mail came to you. We have been having a series of meeting for the past seven months which ended three days ago with the World Bank Board of Directors and UNITED NATIONS Secretary-General in the person of Dr. Ban Ki-Moon.THE WORLD BANK and UNITED NATIONS have agreed to compensate the affected persons with the sum of One Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (USD1,500,000.00). This category of person's includes all Foreign Contractors, Beneficiaries of Inheritance Funds, Unclaimed Lottery Winners around the world who could not received their fund payments from banks and financial institutions around the world due to Governments policy failures and irregularities etc.
 
We are happy to inform you that your name has been enlisted as one of the qualified beneficiary of the USD1,500,000.00 compensation fund payment and that is why we are contacting you. This has been signed and approved by the WORLD BANK and UNITED NATIONS Board of Directors and Trustees.
 
Therefore, be informed that due to current international transfer restrictions, an International Financial Attorney/Expert has been appointed to use his wealth of experience and influence on international Financial matters to secure the immediate release of your USD1,500,000.00 compensation fund payment within 72 hours and you should contact the Financial Attorney/Expert now with the information below and give Him your payment approval file reference number (WB-UN-1043) with your full information via his contact details below:
 
Contact Name: Robert Johnson
Contact Email: barr.robejohnson@one.co.il
               financialconnsultant@ymail.com
 
The Choice is now yours to make, as Mr. Robert Johnson; the International Financial Attorney/Expert is now waiting for your Urgent response so that he can commence action on the transfer of your compensation fund accordingly as approved.
 
We are committed to making the world a better place for the sake of humanity
 
Sincerely
Mr. Laurence Carter
Director, Small and Medium Enterprises
THE WORLD BANK

Anti-fraud resources: