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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: "ROBERT MUELLER" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <robert_muelller@live.com>
Date: Fri, 7 Jun 2013 23:05:42 -0700
Subject: RE: LETTER OF INTENT FROM FBI DESK

Anti-Terrorism And Financial Crimes Division
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001
United States of America 
 
ATTN: BENEFICIARY,
 
This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have thoroughly completed and Investigated with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you are having an illegal transaction with Impostors claiming to be from Central Bank Of Nigeria, the Presidency of Nigeria or any nation,claiming to be one office or the other and some impostors claiming to be the Federal Bureau Of Investigation agents. During our Investigation, it came to our notice that the reason why you have not received your payment is because you have not fulfilled your Financial Obligation given to you in respect of your Contract / Inheritance Payment.
 
So therefore, we have contacted the Federal Ministry of Finance on your behalf and they have brought a solution to your problem by coordinating your payment in the total amount of $1.2M which will be transferred to your bank account or deposited into an ATM CARD which you will use to withdraw funds anywhere of the world. You now have the lawful right to claim your funds.
 
Since the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been involved in this transaction, you are now to be rest assured that this transaction is legitimate and completely risk-free as it is our duty to protect and Serve citizens. All you have to do is immediately contact the ATM CARD CENTER via E-mail for instructions on how to procure your Approval Slip which contains details about transfer of your fund to you and how to receive and activate your ATM CARD for immediate use to withdraw funds being paid to you. We have confirmed that the amount required to procure the Approval Slip will cost you a total of $200 which will be paid directly to the ATM CARD CENTER agent via Western Union or RIA or Money Gram Money Transfer. Below, you shall find the contact details of the Agent whom will process your transaction:
 
AGENT CONTACT INFORMATION:
NAME: Pastor Andrew Smith
EMAIL: atmcardcnt@hotmail.com
 
Immediately contact Pastor Andrew Smith of the ATM Card Center with the following information:
 
Name:
Address:
Telephone:
Age:
Occupation:
 
Once you have sent the required information to Pastor Andrew Smith he will contact you with instructions on how to make the payment of $200 for the Approval Slip after which he will proceed towards the transfer / delivery of the ATM CARD without any further delay. You have hereby been authorized/guaranteed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to commence towards completing this transaction, as there shall be NO delay once payment for the Approval Slip has been made to the authorized agent.
 
Once you have completed payment of $200 to the agent in charge of this transaction, immediately contact me back so as to ensure your ATM CARD gets to you rapidly.
 
FBI Director
Robert Mueller
 

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