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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: "Mrs.Maureen Samuleh" <nana51123@yahoo.co.jp>
Reply-To: "Mrs.Maureen Samuleh" <trustcompany331@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 5 May 2015 17:58:30 +0900 (JST)
Subject: ATM VISA CARD


Mail Post Office Benin Republic
 
Dear
 
The management of the Regular Mail Post Office wishes to acknowledge the receipt of your concise email with the re-confirmation of your personal data and your mailing address where your ATM CARD worth the total sum of US$2,500,000.00 will be delivered to you. The man who deposited your ATM VISA CARD in your name stated before he passed away, that you are an honest person. Therefore, when your ATM CARD arrives, make sure you make good and wise investments with your funds.
 
Meanwhile, every necessary arrangements’ regarding the postage of your ATM CARD has been duly made and all the proper documentations that proof that your ATM CARD funds is legit has been packaged together with your ATM CARD and shall be posted  to you soon as we get your next email response. The ONLY thing left is for us to secure the Procurement File of your ATM CARD from the Court of Justice.
 
The Procurement File will be signed by an Attorney on your behalf since you are not here to sign personally. The procurement File shows that you are the rightful owner of the ATM CARD and you supposed to sign on it before the Court hands it over to us to enable us post your ATM CARD across to your mailing address. Considering the distance from where you are to here, you might not be able to travel down here to be a direct signatory to your Procurement File so we have to employ the little service of a government registered Attorney that will stand in as your “Power of Attorney” to sign the document on your behalf.
 
We have made inquiry with the Court of Justice and they provided us an Attorney that will sign your Procurement file. The signing fee of your Procurement file is just the minute sum of US$50 ( Fifty Dollars). We really thank GOD that once your File is signed, we shall post your ATM CARD to your mailing address immediately for you to start making withdrawal from the first day it arrives to your home address.
 
NOTE: You will be withdrawing the maximum sum of US$15,000.00 (Fifteen Thousand Dollars) daily from your ATM CARD. So once it arrives, you will be making a withdrawal of US$15,000.00 as programmed by the Bank that issued your ATM CARD.
 
We shall provide you with the below payment details of our Account Officer which you will use to send down the Signing Fee of your Procurement File as explained above, so as to enable us post your ATM CARD immediately. You can send the fee through Western Union or Money Gram Money Transfer.
 
HERE IS THE PAYMENT DETAILS:
 
RECEIVER NAME: --------John Ike
COUNTRY: -------------------BENIN REPUBLIC
CITY: ---------------------------
COTONOU
TEXT QUESTION: ---------When
TEXT ANSWER: ------------Now
AMOUNT: --------------------US$50 ONLY
 
After making the payment, then you can send to us the:
 
SENDER'S NAME: ----------
SENDER'S ADDRESS: -----
MTCN (Ref#):-----------------
 
Preferably, you can attach the payment slip to us as that will be much better. If you have any question or clarification, please do not hesitate to call us or email us at once.
 
We wish to congratulate you one again for this great success and blessings that has come your way. Kindly ensure you send the fee possibly today so that we could obtain your procurement File and post your ATM VISA CARD to your address today as scheduled.
 
Remain blessed. We are looking forward to receiving your immediate positive response.
 
Regards,
Mr Peter Walter,
Regular Mail Post Office
Benin Republic

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