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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: "John Briggs" <johnbriggs_41@yahoo.co.uk>
Reply-To: johnbriggs2013@outlook.com
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2014 19:12:13 -0000
Subject: Confirmation



Sir,

I am John Briggs, Treasury Manager, International Banking at Zenith Bank.

I have a request from, Oluwale Johnson of the Federal Ministry of Finance,
to raise a Bank Draft of $25m in your favour.

As is customary with the bank, I am writing to confirm that you are
actually the real beneficiary of the said amount and also to get
information with which to cross check what Oluwale Johnson has submitted
to my office.

Please do not feel offended if you are not the person in question, but if
you are please send to me:

Your full names:
Full Address:
Any form of Identification eg Drivers License:
Telephone number:


If the information sent to us from you as listed above corresponds with
the information we already have, then we will proceed to issue the bank
draft in your favour.

Awaiting your urgent response.

Yours faithfully
John Briggs
Zenith Bank
johnbriggs_41@yahoo.co.uk



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