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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: "UNITED STATES TREASURY DEPARTMENT." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ustd.secjack.lew@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 13:04:42 -0400
Subject: UNCLAIMED FUNDS!!!!

UNITED STATES TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

The Financial Management Service, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, has a listing of several resources for Unclaimed Money and Assets.

Good Day to you,

My Name is Jack Lew, which I believe you know who I am, I am sending you this breif message to notify you about unclaimed funds that has recently been authorized by the United States President, Barrack Obama due to the Government Shut Down on Obama Health Care and also the resumption of the Office, Conference Meetings has been held more than 5 times on how to repay people of there unclaimed funds by Inheritance,Contract, lottory, assects and properties until final conclusion last week Monday, whereby the President has personally authorize me to handle this transaction personally and to make sure beneficiary must reach terms and agreement before the funds can be pay/returned to the rightful beneficiary.

>From the list of the files we have right here the lowest unclaimed funds by individual is starting from $4.7 Million USD to $31 Million USD, so the FMS are willing and ready for your sincere cooperation to pay you back your fund. To determine whether any unclaimed funds are being held by the federal government, you must determine the type of benefit or payment that could be involved, the date on which the payment was expected, and how the payment should have been made. Given this information, the agency responsible for certifying any payment due should be able to assist you in determining the current status of any payment involved.

Several companies, or locator services, engaged in the business of identifying and recovering unclaimed assets for profit, acquire federal check issuance data from FMS and various federal government agencies under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. The information requested by these companies pertains to specific check symbols, numbers and dollar amounts identified on Treasury check cancellation listings compiled by FMS. These listings are not searchable by personal identifiers, such as a person's name or social security number. Personal identifiers may, however, exist in federal agencies' check issuance or cancellation records. Using such personal identifiers, if available, these locator services attempt to locate the prospective beneficiaries, or "payees," for canceled/unpaid government checks and, on their behalf, attempt to collect the payment amounts from the federal agencies that originally certified the payments. It is important to note that these firms are also involved in recovering u

These letter indicates that you can receive this unclaimed Inheritance,Contract, lottory, assects and properties if you pay a "finders" fee, Remember without this fees there is nothing I can do to assist you to get you what rightfully belongs to you and due to Thanks Giving Holiday and for this coming Christmas Period you are giving only this chances to get this resolved ASAP.

Jack Lew
Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20220
General Information
Fax: (202) 382-3657
ustd.secjack.lew@gmail.com

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