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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: "Ministry of Foreign Affairs" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mfa.nigeria88995@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2019 02:18:37 +0800
Subject: Beware of Scam

NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT FRAUD ALERT AND COMPENSATION

We discovered that fraudsters are sending emails to unsuspecting persons claiming to be the
Nigerian President, Nigerian Ministers and Government Officials, Directors, Managers, or staffs
of Banks, United Nations (UN), EFCC, FBI, private and public Companies/Organizations e.t.c.

This is to advise and warn the general public that The Federal Government of Nigeria has no
relationship whatsoever with these fraudsters masquerading as officials of Banks, Ministries and
other organizations mentioned above. In the circumstance, we therefore, unreservedly dissociate
ourselves from all such correspondence and transactions entered into based on such evidently
fraudulent and fictitious claims.

In the event that you receive any kind of solicitation email or phone call, please disregard the
sender/caller and if you have been scammed via any kind of solicitation email, phone call or
Dating and Romance scams, please send your NAME and ADDRESS to the email address listed below
for verification, and after verification if truly you have been scammed you will be reimbursed.
This program is organized by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Contact email address: mfa.nigeria88995@gmail.com


***The means of verification is via Western Union and MoneyGram, if truly you
have sent money to Nigeria your name will be in their database***

The Source of Fund Clearance Certificate and the Anti-money Laundering Certificate (AML) already
prepared and approved by the Federal Government of Nigeria and will also be forwarded alongside
your fund for clearance and legalization. The funds will be insured to avoid unnecessary
deductions until they get to their various destinations.


Yours sincerely,
Femi Olorunshola
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Nigeria.

Anti-fraud resources: