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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: "DMO" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <accountsinfo@voila.fr>
Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2012 15:21:21 +0100
Subject: Your compensation.

UK Debt Management Office
Eastcheap Court
11 Philpot Lane
London
EC3M 8UD
United Kingdom

Sir/Madam.

Re:$250,000 compensation.

We are pleased to inform you that following the consistent and persistent pressure from the United Nations and European Union to African leaders to pay outstanding financial commitments in contracts/inheritance owed foreigners as a pre-condition to encouraging investors to invest and possible debt forgiveness in the region is becoming positive.

Nigerian government has taken the lead in this and has agreed to pay a compensation of $250,000 to all beneficiaries.

We were nominated to handle this for them for accountability and transparency.After very meticulous study and consultations,we agreed that every beneficiary will pay a non-deductible service charge of GBP125.

This charge became inevitable so as to take care of the long bureaucracy often the case in Africa.We therefore need a reconfirmation of the following :

a, Full name

b, Direct telephone number

c, postal address.

The inconvenience is highly regretted.

Yours faithfully,
Baen Paul

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