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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: Felix Awele <felixawele002@outlook.com>
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2015 21:08:19 +0000
Subject: I shall await your swift response.


I am Rev.Felix Awele,the Director International Payment Remittance of United Bank for Africa (UBA).

This
is to bring to your notice that the Federal Government of Nigeria has
mandated this office to recover all floating / unclaimed funds and
transfer them back into the federal government treasury.

In the
course of carrying out this exercise, we discover that your
Contract/Inheritance payment file is among the unclaimed fund.

I want to know from you the reason why your funds worth (US$10.8)was abandoned up till this time without any claim.

It is quite unfortunate that you have not received your funds till now.

We,
hereby apologize for the inconvenience and delay this may have caused
you in the past not receiving your Contract/Inheritance funds.

I wish to officially notify you that your payment has been floating in the bank for so long without claim.

If perhaps, you still want to continue with the claims and receive the funds, you should get in touch with me immediately.

If
otherwise, you do not wish to pursue the funds claims, you should
immediately do that in writing by forwarding a Letter of
Disclaimer/Refusal to me immediately.

Note: If your funds return to the government treasury, you will end up not receiving the funds again.

I shall await your swift response.

Best Regards,
Rev. Felix Awele

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