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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: WU<cklink@re-comm.net>
Reply-To: unwutaccesss@qq.com
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 02:42:25 +0800
Subject: Transaction #: WUMT-MY


WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER
MALAYSIAN PAY-OUT CENTER
Dear Western Union Beneficiary,
We wish to inform you that the United Nations (UN) has authorized us to
remit to you a total amount of $1,500,000.00 USD (One Million Five Hundred
Thousand United States Dollars). This amount is to be paid to you because
of the fact that you were selected as a beneficiary in the Last E-mail
ballot promotion held in Malaysia, by the United Nations. This promotion
is inline with the social responsibility of the United Nations
Organization, which is held once every year to change the living status of
seven (7) lives around the Globe. This year, yourself and six (6) other
people were randomly selected. On behalf of the United Nations
Organization, we wish to congratulate you formally.
Your Inheritance/Winning payment was paid out to us, by the United
Nations, and they have successfully succeeded in depositing your whole
funds with us here at Western Union Malaysia. They have now ordered us to
take full responsibility in the transfer process of your funds and thus
commence the immediate remittance of your funds to you. Be strongly
informed that because of our Western Union transfer policy, your funds
will be paid to you via our Western Union Daily Transfer limit of
$5,000USD-$7,600USD. This means that you will continuously receive a daily
amount of $5,000USD-$7,600USD USD from us, and this amount can be
collected from any of our numerous Western Union outlets in your current
location.
To begin receiving your daily payment as stated above, we need you to
provide us with; Your Full Name, Address, and Phone Number. Upon receipt
of the requested details, your first transaction will be activated and we
shall then proceed to provide you with the Money Transfer Control Number
(MTCN) for the first installment, and we will continue to email you others
after 24 hours of receiving each payment.
For more information on your payment status;
E-mail Mrs. Helen Kuan mrskuanwumt@qq.com
OR call our 24 hours Helpline @ +601-126-433-169 for any inquiries on the
above message.
Yours truly,
Western Union

Anti-fraud resources: