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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: "UNITED NATIONS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <info.kcb010@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2017 21:57:27 -0800
Subject: Re: Welcome to the United Nations Office

Welcome to the United Nations Office
 
 
 
 
UNITED NATIONS
Website: www.un.org/en/
 
Our Ref: UN/TH/RE-1077-V/2017
 
Dear Valued Citizen,
 
Please we are very sorry to write you by now, just that we have some unclaimed Fund worth Million of Dollars, Such as' Master Card/ Check/Bank Draft and Consignment, we are going through investigation to find out who are the real beneficiaries to this Valuables worth Million of Dollars, but do to the fast that some of the beneficiaries are unable to be reached. The only source of contact is this your email address.
 
Please we want you to kindly respond back with respect, with your full contact details, so we can be able to use their last name to verify by relative or / Next of Kin to some of the files we have here.
 
We Pledge that all Nations should co-operate with us and always speak with good manner as we come to good conclusion to all the files under our custody. We really appreciate whoever that come-in and share ideas with us.
 
Thank You.
 
Secretary-General
António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres
United Nations

Anti-fraud resources: