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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. Ban Ki-Moon" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <unn444@yahoo.com.mx>
Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2012 00:41:55 +1000
Subject: Payment Notification

25-07-2012
 
 
ZENITH BANK COMPENSATION UNIT, IN AFFILIATION WITH THE UNITED NATIONS. Send
a copy of your response to official email: unitednation2016@aol.com
 
 
ATTN:
 
 
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 then 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$
350,000.00(Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States
Dollars) This includes every foriegn 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.
 
 
Your name and email was in the list submitted by our Monitoring Team of
Economic and Financial Crime Commission observers and this is why we are
contacting you, this have been agreed upon and have been signed.
 
 
You are advised to contact Mr. Jim Ovia of ZENITH BANK NIGERIA PLC, as he is
our representative in Nigeria, contact him immediately for your Cheque/
International Bank Draft of USD$350,000.00 (Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand
United States Dollars) This funds are in a Bank Draft for security purpose
ok? so he will send it to you and you can clear it in any bank of your
choice.
 
 
Therefore, you should send him your full Name and telephone number/your
correct mailing address where you want him to send the Draft to you.
 
 
Contact Mr. Jim Ovia immediately for your Cheque:
 
Person to Contact Mr. Jim Ovia
Email: mrjimovia2015@yahoo.com.hk
Phone: +234-709-027-2792
 
Goodluck and kind regards,
 
 
Making the world a better place
 
 
 
Mr. Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary (UNITED NATIONS).
http://www.un.org/sg/

Anti-fraud resources: