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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: "US TREASURY DEPARTMENT" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ustreasurrydept01@globomail.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2012 23:27:53 +0200
Subject: Attention: Beneficiary

UNITED STATES TREASURY DEPARTMENT
Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20220


Attention: Beneficiary


Top of the day to you. I am Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the United States National Treasury. President Barrack Obama nominated me to be the 75th Secretary of the Treasury on January 20, 2009.The United States Senate unanimously confirmed me to the position on January 26, 2009 and I was sworn into office on January 26, 2009 by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. As Treasury Secretary, I am the President’s leading policy advisor on a broad range of domestic and international economic issues.


Before coming to Treasury, I was the 9th president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In that role I also served as Vice Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). After completing my studies, I worked for Kissinger and Associates in Washington, D.C., for three years and then joined the International Affairs division of the U.S. Treasury Department in 1988, and I went on to serve as an attachment at the US Embassy in Tokyo. I was deputy assistant secretary for international monetary and financial policy (1995–1996), senior deputy assistant secretary for international affairs (1996-1997), assistant secretary for international affairs (1997–1998. And I was Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs (1998–2001) under Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.


We inform you today dated 8th March 2012 that after proper investigations, we discovered the delay in your outstanding payment which is truly $8,500.000.00 USD (Eight Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars). The Secretary of State (Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton scheduled a time frame to settle all foreign/local debts which includes Contract/Inheritance/ Gambling/ Lottery(Sponsored by Microsoft and National Lottery) and other international loans. News had it that over the past, numerous individual (s) who happen to be impostors (claiming to be individuals, banks and organizations) are claiming to release numerous sums of fund via numerous ways.


With the help of the FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI) and other relevant security agencies, we have noticed that people have being asked to pay outrageous amount of money by these impostors for the release of their funds to them. We want you to stop all communication that has to do with these fraudsters who have been requesting unreasonable sums of money from you to release your funds which they do not have access to. And I want you to know that your funds valued at US$8,500,000.00 (Eight Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) have been approved by the Treasury Department of the United States, and I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this mail confidential and respect the integrity of the information you come by as a result of this mail. I contact you independently of our investigation and no one is informed of this communication.


In order for us to process your payment, you need/must get back to us with your:


Your full Name:
Your Address:
Occupation:
Home/Cell Phone:
Age:
Nearest Airport:


NOTE: This matter must be treated within (10) ten working days if not, you will leave us with no choice than to send back your Consignments Boxes from the issuing organization.


Please get back to me as soon as possible with the required information and your full willingness to finalize this transaction.


Thank you for your co-operation.


Mr. Timothy Geithner.
Executive Secretary United States Treasury Department
Main Treasury 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20220.

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