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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: "FBI OFFICE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <fbi_office02@terra.com>
Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2012 16:10:26 +0100
Subject: FBI Headquarter, Washington, D.C

Anti-Terrorist And Monetary Crimes Division
FBI Headquarter, Washington, D.C.
Federal Bureau Of Investigation,Washington, D.C.
J.Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, Nw Washington, D.C. 20535-0001
www.fbi.gov
 
ATTENTION: BENEFICIARY
 
 
This e-mail has been issued to you in order to Officially inform you that we
have completed an investigation on an International Payment in which was
issued to you by an International Lottery Company. With the help of our newly
developed technology (International Monitoring Network System) we discovered
that your e-mail address was automatically selected by an Online Balloting
System, this has legally won you the sum of $2.4million USD from a Lottery
Company outside the United States of America. During our investigation we
discovered that your e-mail won the money from an Online Balloting System and
we have authorized this winning to be paid to you via INTERNATIONAL CERTIFIED
BANK DRAFT.
 
 
Normally, it will take up to 5 business days for an INTERNATIONAL CERTIFIED
BANK DRAFT by your local bank. We have successfully notified this company on
your behalf that funds are to be drawn from a registered bank within the
worldwinde, so as to enable you cash the check instantly without any delay,
henceforth the stated amount of $2.4million USD has been deposited with IMF .
We have completed this investigation and you are hereby approved to receive
the winning prize as we have verified the entire transaction to be Safe and
100% risk free, due to the fact that the funds have been deposited with IMF
you will be required to settle the following bills directly to the Lottery
Agent in-charge of this transaction whom is located in Cotonou, Benin
Republic. According to our discoveries, you were required to pay for the
following,
(1) Deposit Fee's ( IMF INTERNATIONAL CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE )
(2) Shipping Fee's ( This is the charge for shipping the Cashier's Check to
your home address)
 
 
The total amount for everything is $96.00 We have tried our possible best to
indicate that this $96.00 should be deducted from your winning prize but we
found out that the funds have already been deposited IMF and cannot be
accessed by anyone apart from you the winner, therefore you will be required
to pay the required fee's to the Agent in-charge of this transaction In
order to proceed with this transaction,
 
you will be required to contact the agent in-charge ( Mr Henry Ben) via
e-mail. Kindly look below to find
appropriate contact information:
 
 
CONTACT AGENT NAME: Mr Henry Ben
E-MAIL : imfbenin29@yahoo.it
PHONE NUMBER: +22996499818
You will be required to e-mail him with the following information:
FULL NAME:
ADDRESS:
CITY:
STATE:
ZIP CODE:
DIRECT CONTACT NUMBER:
OCCUPATION:
 
 
You will also be required to request Western Union or Money Gram details on
how to send the required $96.00 in order to immediately ship your prize of
$2.4million USD via INTERNATIONAL CERTIFIED BANK DRAFT from IMF, also include
the following transaction code in order for him to immediately identify this
transaction : EA2948-910.
 
 
This letter will serve as proof that the Federal Bureau Of Investigation is
authorizing you to pay the required $96.00 ONLY to Mr Henry Ben via
information in which he shall send to you,
 
 
Mr. Robert Mueller
Federal Bureau of Investigation F B I
Yours in Service,Photograph of Director
Robert S. Mueller, IIIRobert S. Mueller,
III Director Office of Public Affairs

Anti-fraud resources: