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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: "Capt. Robert Zimmerman" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <capt.robertzim@yahoo.com.ph>
Date: Mon, 19 May 2014 19:54:00 -0700
Subject: American team of military personnel's and law enforcement.

Good day friend,

I apologize to encroach into your privacy in this manner; I got your contact from a directory on the internet here in Nigeria. I find it pleasurable to offer you my partnership in business. My name is Capt. Robert E. Zimmerman an officer with American team of military personnel's and law enforcement officials with expertise in investigations and hostages to help the Nigeria's efforts to find and rescue the nearly 300 schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamic militants in the country's northeast.

The U.S. has been involved for some time in the fight against Boko Haram - the Islamic military group that has sowed bloody havoc in Nigeria's northeast for years. In just the last year alone, we've provided approximately $3 million in law enforcement assistance to Nigeria including assistance to develop Nigerian capacity to search, identify, mitigate and dispose of IEDs and related materials, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said. In recent years, Boko Haram has carried out dozens of attacks, killing thousands of people at schools, churches, police stations, government buildings and elsewhere. Targets include Christians, senior Islamic figures critical of Boko Haram and people the group believes are engaged in "un-Islamic" behavior, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom says.

Boko Haram has gained training in weapons and communications from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in recent years. This helped it move from little-noticed attacks to more spectacular ones, including against Western targets and the Nigerian government, which it seeks to overthrow, U.S. authorities say. In 2011, it carried out an attack with IEDs on the United Nations headquarters in Abuja.

It's unclear just how big the group is. The U.S. State Department says Boko Haram's membership estimates "range from the hundreds to a few thousand." A U.S. government report in December 2011 found that a "consistent lack of reliable reporting on Boko Haram has contributed to the difficulty in assessing its size, makeup, and goals. On the 11th day of May 2014, we were alerted on the sudden presence of some Boko Haram - the Islamic military group camping in a town call Nassarawa not too far from Abuja (FCT). After Immediate intervention, we captured eight of the rebels and in the process of torture, they confessed and took us to their hide out in which served as their camp and there, we recovered some boxes among which one box contains ($5.3) Five Million Three Hundred Thousand US Dollars.

Please I need your help in claim and safe keeping of $5.3 (Five Million Three Hundred Thousand, United States Dollars) which was moved from Nigeria to the United Kingdom, through a special arrangement with the US RED CROSS service. I received an e-mail from the security vault this morning to come in claim of the consignment I deposited with them, and I have just two weeks from now to claim these funds. I don't have any family back in the U.S before joining the army and its difficult for me to travel to United Kingdom within the time frame in claim of the fund with the security company in London and that's why am contacting you. Please assure me of your keeping this topmost secret to protect my job with the US Monitoring and Peace-Keeping mission and kindly furnish me with your full names, Address, occupation, direct phone and any form of ID.

I wait for your contact details so we can go on. I will give to you 30% of the money ($5.3m) and 65% is for me, and while the remaining 5% will be used in offsetting all debts/expenses and Taxes incurred. I hope I am been fair on this deal. More details regarding this deal will be made available to you as soon as your interest is shown. Contact me through my private e-mail:

Please, do not disclose this deal to anybody as to protect my duties with the Military; I must keep a low profile at all times. I am out of our military network at the moment, am writing from a fresh email account so if you are not interested do not reply to this email and please delete this message, if there is no response after 3days I will then search for someone else.

Note, this deal is risk free.

Regards,

Capt. Robert E. Zimmerman
Nigeria Military Base,
Abuja, Federal Capital Territory

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