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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: "Mr.Jonathan Williams" <Williams.@cocoa.ocn.ne.jp>
Reply-To: "Mr.Jonathan Williams" <posto8893@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 17:22:08 +0900 (JST)
Subject: CONTACT POST OFFICE FOR YOUR ATM CARD

Greetings,

I’m Mr.Jonathan Williams,the new appointed Postman of Regular Mail Post Office
branched at Cotonou Benin. I assumed this office on 12th, Feb, 2016. On going
through the files of the previous records of this office, I discovered that
there are six parcels containing ATM cards each one attached with an email
address of the owner on it. The former appointee of this office (Alhaji Ahmed
Musa Jr.) failed to carry out the delivery as it was instructed and programmed.
Probably, one of his reasons for not carrying out the delivery was that you
have not provided your postal address to him for the completion of the delivery
as he remarked.

According to the content recorded in each file, the ATM card was deposited by
one Senior Evangelist Mathew Peterson who died one year back as a charity
foundation parcel to each of the six of you. On the statement he wrote on the
list, he stated that each of the aforementioned ATM cards contains the sum of
US$2,500,000.00 and he found your email contacts as reputable and capable
persons that can use the charity awarded ATM Cards to change the lives of
people.

Meanwhile, I've made the arrangement of posting the six parcels through Regular
Mail Post Office to the six of you to your respective mailing addresses.

Am also sending the same message of the same content to six of you that own the
six abandoned ATM CARDS each at the same time. If found in spam folder, it
could be due to your Internet Service Provider, ISP. So move to your inbox
before your reply.

I went to our head office at Cotonou Benin and reported the issue of the
discovered six ATM cards in my office and they verified it and gave me the veto
order to carry out the delivery immediately you reconfirm your mailing address
to this office in order for us to mail the ATM CARD directly to you after
Postal Stamp of the parcel. Note, below information is officially needed for
posting of the CARD ASAP.

Full name:
Full mailing info:
Your cell phone line:
Country:
Nearest Airport:
5. Your sex/age;
6. Your id:
Passport:

We shall post your ATM Card once you update us with the above info and you
shall be given a tracking number, that is, the Track and Trace number of your
parcel once it is posted to your mailing address, so as to enable you track
your parcel to know exactly when it will arrive to your mailing address.

Remain blessed as I'll be looking forward to receiving your immediate
response.

Regards,
Mr.Jonathan Williams,
CONTACT Email: atm_office@mail.ru
Postman, Regular Mail Post Office Cotonou Benin.

Anti-fraud resources: