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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: "Internal Revenue Service" (may be fake)
Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2019 11:19:54 +0100
Subject: PAYMENT APPROVAL

Hello Beneficiary,

I am pleased to inform you that your total fund valued $11.5 Million Dollars which has been long overdue have been approved for immediate release to you through Bank of America where it is held presently. You are advised to contact them immediately with the details below to have your fund release and transferred to you:

Contact Person: Thong M. Nguyen
President-Retail Banking & Head-Consumer Banking
Email: bofa.tnguyen@gmail.com.

Contact them for more details on what needs to be done to have your fund released to your account, I advise you call them on the telephone number provided after sending them an email so they can attend to you urgently because the fund would be confiscated if not released between now and Friday.

Do keep us updated when you have received your fund and once again, we say congratulations.

Sincerely,
Vincenzo Alonso.
Internal Revenue Service.

Anti-fraud resources: