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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: "Mr. Anthony Smith" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mranthonysmith4@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2016 06:57:01 -0500
Subject: TREAT AS URGENT

From: Mr. Anthony Smith
Director Inspection Unit
Hear Field International
Airport, London United Kingdom
Regional Division Shipment

Dear Owner,

I am Mr. Anthony Smith, Head Officer-in-London, and Administrative Service Inspection Unit United Nations Inspection Agency in Heathrow Airport, London . During our investigation, I discovered an abandoned shipment through a Diplomat from Nigeria which was transferred from Gatwick International Airport to our facility here in London, and when scanned it revealed an undisclosed sum of money in 2 Metal Trunk Boxes weighing approximately 130kg each.

The consignment was abandoned because the Content was not properly declared by the consignee as money rather it was declared as personal effect/classified document to either avoid diversion by the Shipping Agent or confiscation by the relevant authorities. The diplomat's inability to pay for Non Inspection fees among other things are the reason why the consignment is delayed and abandoned.

By my assessment, each of the boxes contains about $5M or more. They are still left in the airport storage facility till today. The Consignments like I said are two metal trunk boxes weighing about 65kg each (Internal dimension: W61 x H156 x D73 (cm) effective capacity: 680 L) Approximately. The details of the consignment including your name and email on the official document from United Nations' office in Lagos Nigeria where the shipment was tagged as personal effects/classified document is still available with us. As it stands now, you have to reconfirm your full name, Phone Number, full address so I can cross-check and see if it corresponds with the one on the official documents. It is now left to you to decide if you still need the consignment or allow us repatriate it back to Nigeria (place of origin) as we were instructed.

As I did say again, the shipper abandoned it and ran away most importantly because he gave a false declaration, he could not pay for the yellow tag, he could not secure a valid non inspection document(s), etc. I am ready to assist you in any way I can for you to get back this packages provided you will also give me something out of it (financial gratification). You can either come in person, or you engage the services of a secure shipping/delivery Company/agent that will provide the necessary security that is required to deliver the package to your doorstep or the destination of your choice. I need the entire guarantee that I can get from you before I can get involved in this project.

Also I decided to assistance to ensure that the consignment is delivering to you because of what scammers have done to so many people around the globe especially those groups of impostors from West Africa and that why I don’t want the consignment to be repatriating back to Nigeria. So do get back to! me if you are interesting in receive your consignment.

Best Regards,

Mr. Anthony Smith
Head Officer-in-London
Administrative Service Inspection Unit

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