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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: "STEVE WILLIAMS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mr.stevewilliams7575@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2018 22:18:24 +0100
Subject: RELEASE OF YOUR FUND

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF). REGIONAL OFFICE, Whitehall Court London, SW1A 2EL United Kingdom. Attention: Please, A power of attorney was forwarded to our office this morning by one gentle man and he is a citizen from united state of America and his name is Micheal Williams. This man claimed to be your representative and this power of attorney stated that you are dead after brief illness and he brought account to replace your information in other to claim your fund of $11.5 million us dollars which is now laying dormant and unclaimed, below is the new account he have submitted: City Bank Account# / 6503809428. Routing/122006743, Address 1076 Peter Johnson Road New York, USA, Account Name: Michael Williams. Be further informed that this power of attorney also stated that you suffered and died of a throat cancer. You are therefore given 24 hrs to confirm the truth in this information, if you are still alive, you are to contact us back immediately, because we work 24 hrs just to ensure that we monitor all the activities going on in regards to the transfer of beneficiary’s inheritance and contract payment. You are to get back to this office immediately for clarifications on this matter and also be advised that your payment file needs to be renewed and updated with the renewal fee of $150 if you are still alive. We need you to reconfirm the following information to us. (1) Full Name: (2) Country/State: (3) Delivery Address: (4) Occupation; (5) Sex. (6) Age: (7) Telephone Number: We shall send you the information on how to send the renewal fee once we hear from you and failure to hear from you after 24 hours we will take it that what Mr. Michael said is truth. Best Regards. Steve. Williams Regional Director. INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND.

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