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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: "Mr.Banki moon Secretary UNITED NATIONS ." <cardson@w3j387784.homepage.t-online.de>
Reply-To: <welshwelsh1971@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2011 17:05:51 -0700
Subject: FROM UNITED NATIONS

ATTENTION
 
How are you today? Hope all is well with you and family? You may not understand why this mail came to you.
 
We have been having a meeting for the passed 7 months which ended 2 days ago with the secretary to the UNITED NATIONS.
 
This email is to all the people that have been scammed in any part of the world, the UNITED NATIONS have agreed to compensate them with the sum of US$ 250,000.00. This includes every foreign contractors that may have not received their contract sum, and people that have had an unfinished transaction or international businesses that failed due to Government problems etc.
 
We also found out that some people didnt finish their transactions because of bad draft and problems in bank to bank transfers and so for this reason we have a new way of moving your payment to you and surely you will have no problem with that as everyone has been happy and receiving their funds through this new channel.
 
We found your name in our list and that is why we are contacting you, this has been agreed upon and has been signed.
 
You are advised to contact Mr. Godwin Emefiele of ZENITH BANK NIGERIA PLC, as he is our representative in Nigeria, contact him immediately to direct you on this new and easy way to receive your payment of USD$ 250,000.00.
 
Therefore, you should send him your full contact details.
 
Contact Mr. Godwin Emefiele immediately for your Cheque:
You must Contact Mr. Godwin Emefiele with email below.
 
 
Email:emefieg@yahoo.co.jp
 
Thanks and God bless you and your family. Hoping to hear from you as soon as you receive your payment.
 
Making the world a better place
 
Regards,
 
Mr.Banki moon Secretary (UNITED NATIONS).

Anti-fraud resources: