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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "ANDY COLE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <hsbcbank.atmdepartme@globomail.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2013 16:28:55 -0800
Subject: YOUR URGENT ATTENTION IS HIGHLY NEEDED

Ref: Payment Of $8.5 Million Approval. Attn, Beneficiary We received instruction few days from our accredited Bank to transfer the sum of $8.5 million into your account which we are on the process to make your payment through Digital River Visa Electron Card on your name so that you can make withdrawal from any ATM machine system in your country by your self, to avoid any problem. But we are surprise this morning when we are about to load the fund into the Digital River Visa Electron Card and received another email from Ms JANE MOORE whom claim to be your representative and forward to us the following account information for us to transfer the fund into her account. The account which she forward to us is as follow. NAME JANE MOORE Bank OF America TX2-817-01-01 9308 Forest Lane, Dallas TX 75243 ROUTING # 541740162 ACCT # 488030345645 Please, Do reconfirm to us as a matter of urgency if this lady is from you and have you authorized her to receive your fund .If this lady is not your representative, You are requested to fill and send this information for verification purpose, so that your fund value of $8.5 million united state dollars will be paid to you through ATM card method system. 1. YOUR FULL NAME........ 2. YOUR TELEPHONE...... 3. AGE........... 4. SEX............... 5. YOUR OCCUPATION...... 6. YOUR ADDRESS......... 7. A COPY OF YOUR ID...... However, we shall proceed to issue all payment details to the said Ms. Jane Moore, if we did not hear from you within the next seven working days from today,we will process and release the fund into Ms Jane Moore account. Confirm your receipt of this mail without delay. Yours in service Mr Andy Cole. (ATM transfer Unit Manager)

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