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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: "George Owen" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <georgeowena1@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2017 13:26:34 -0400
Subject: GREETINGS

 
Attention: Email Owner,
               
Compliments of the season? This is to inform you that after the recent United Nations Executive General Assembly Meeting in New York, our
office has been appointed to pay all delay and mishandling transaction originated from Africa, Asia, Arab, Europe and America.
However, yesterday we received a payment credit instruction from the World Bank to release funds to you from their reserve account with us.
Moreover, base on World Bank instruction according to the United Nations report, your e-mail address was in the list submitted by their
e-mail electronic diversity monitoring team observers and we have try to contact you but your email bounce back.
Therefore, you are required to provide the followings details below for proper procedures.
1. Your Full name
2. Your Present address.:
3. Your Direct Tel number.:
4. Attachment Any Form of your identification.
Please do provide the above information accurately, because this office cannot afford to be held liable for any wrong transfer of funds
or liability of funds credited into a ghost account.
We hope you find this improvement useful.
Yours in Service,
Mr.George Owen
For: The Management.
Financial Conduct Authority Online Coordinator.

Anti-fraud resources: