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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: "Dr. James Obi" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <accntantob@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 17:59:27 -0500
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED.

FROM DR. JAMES OBI
CHIEF ACCOUNTANT GENERAL OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
Federal Secretariat Towers (5th & 10th floors)
Shehu Shagari Way , Central Area, Garki, Abuja.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Greetings to you and members of your family.

You may not really understand why this email is coming to you. I am
Dr. James Obi, from the Office of the Chief Accountant General of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Due to series of petitions received from International Organizations
and foreign individuals on claims of fraud perpetrated on them, most
of which emanating from Nigeria or its friendly network in Europe,
Asia and other parts of Africa, taking over all or part of the entire
life savings of their victims, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria
and my Office representing the Federal Government of Nigeria have had
series of meetings with the Secretary-General to the United Nations,
Mr. Ban Ki-moon. This meeting has been holding for nearly 3 months
now, but ended a few days ago with a sole objective of compensating
selected fraud victims, whose information and deals with fraudsters
was provided to us by the United Nations Internet and
Telecommunication Activities Monitoring Team.

Being the outcome of our meeting, we are sending this message to
selected fraud victims who has been scammed by various means. The
United Nations have therefore agreed to compensate them with the sum
of US$500, 000. 00 (Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars only)
each. These include some foreign contractors and inheritors that could
not receive their contract or inheritance payments, and people that
have had unfinished transactions or international businesses that
failed due to strict Government policies, those whose bank account was
hacked, apartment scam etc. And you are lucky to be one of those
selected.

Your contact details fell on the list of lucky fraud victims provided
to us by the United Nations, being the reason why we are contacting
you.It has however been agreed upon that you receive your payment with
immediate effect following approvals received from the Central Bank of
Nigeria in affiliation with the United Nations.

You are hereby advised to acknowledge receipt of this payment notice
as soon as possible, to enable us instruct the Central Bank of Nigeria
which is the United Nations Paying bank here in West Africa to pay
you.


Congratulations!


Yours Faithfully,

DR. JAMES OBI
Chief Accountant General ( Federal Republic of Nigeria )
Central Area, Garki, Abuja.

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