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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: "Robert Mueller" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <robert.s.mueller.com@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2012 17:07:33 +0100
Subject: FBI WASHINGTON DC ATTENTION, FUND BENEFICIARY,

Anti-Terrorist And Monetary Crimes Division
FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Federal bureau of investigation
J. Edgar Hoover building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20535-0001
Ref: FBI/DC/25/11
Attention: Fund Beneficiary,
This is an official advice from the FBI foreign remittance/telegraphic dept., it has come to our notice that a bank from Nigeria district has released 10,5 Million U.S dollars into Bank of America in your name as the beneficiary, by Inheritance means.The C.B.N bank Nigeria knowing fully well that they do not have enough facilities to effect this payment from the united kingdom to your account, used what we know as a secret diplomatic transit payment S.T.D.P to pay this fund through wire transfer, they used this means to complete the payment.
They are still, waiting for confirmation from you on the already transferred funds, which was made in direct transfer so that they can do final crediting to your account. Secret diplomatic payments are not made unless the funds are related to terrorist activities why must your payment be made in secret transfer, if your transaction is legitimate, if you are not a terrorist, then why did you not receive the money directly into your account, this is a pure coded, means of payment .Records, which we have had with, this method of payment in the past has always been related to terrorist acts, we do not want you to get into trouble as soon as these funds reflect in your account, so it is our duty as a world wide commission to correct this little problem before this fund will be credited into your personal account. 
Due to the increased difficulty and unnecessary scrutiny by the UK authorities when funds come from outside of Europe, and the Middle East, the F.B.I bank commission for Europe has stopped the transfer on its way to deliver payment of $10,5 Million to debit your reserve account and pay you through a secured diplomatic transit account (S.D.T.A). We govern and oversee funds Transfer for the World Bank and the rest of the world. We advice you contact us immediately, as the funds have been stopped and are being held in our custody, until you can be able to provide us with a diplomatic immunity seal of transfer (dist) within 3 days from the world local bank that authorize the transfer from where the funds was transferred from to certify that the funds that you are about to receive from Nigeria are antiterrorist/drug free or we shall have cause to cross and impound the payment, we shall release the funds immediately we receive this legal documents .
 
SIGNED,
THE FBI CRIME REPORT OFFICE
Federal Bureau Of Investigation.
J. Edgar. Hoover Building, Washington D.C
Regards,
Robert S. Mueller III. FOR FBI.
 

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