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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: "INTERPOL" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <tbn@365trade.net>
Date: Sun, 1 Dec 2013 04:38:49 +0100
Subject: WE ARE REFUNDING YOUR FEES

The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO, INTERPOL)
Website: http://www.interpol.int

Confirmation Message:

This message is to let you know that we have carried out verifications at Western Union and MoneyGram headquarters to know if truly you have sent money to Nigeria and it was confirmed to us that you have sent money on several occasions to Nigeria.

The confirmation proves that you have truly sent money to fraudsters in Nigeria as claimed and you are entitled to a compensation in the on-going compensation program sponsored by Nigerian Government to be implemented by The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO, INTERPOL).

Contact Trade Bank International (Nigeria ad-hoc branch) via the email address stated below for your compensation.

Trade Bank Email Address: tbn3@365trade.net


This message is from The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO, INTERPOL).

http://www.interpol.int/Member-countries/Africa/Nigeria
=========================================================================
Genuine organizations, Banks, Ministries and Government officials will never use GMAIL, HOTMAIL, LIVE, MSN, OUTLOOK.COM, YAHOO ACCOUNTS and any other free email services for official purposes. If you are dealing with any organization, Bank, Ministry and Government official and they are using any of the free email services, it is a scam. Someone might have been deceiving you that you have Thousands or Millions of dollars to claim. Please be warned that there are no Thousands and Millions of dollars anywhere they are just deceiving you in order to rip you off. Stop every email communications immediately.

Anti-fraud resources: