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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: "DR JAMES ODE WATTS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jamesodewatts@accountant.com>
Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2023 17:21:22 -0800
Subject: GOOD NEWS

Dear Beneficiary,

Congratulations, you have been compensated with the sum of €1,000.000.00 euro, by the United Nations and its co-sponsor International Monetary Fund (IMF) on its Internet Fraud compensation programme organized to compensate the internet Fraud victims. Your email ID Compensation Ref No: IMF/UN/FQ7XX, your email ID was find among the email addresses on the internet complainant’s blogs, that are to be compensated from the total sum of €500 Million euros realized so far from internet fraudsters by the International Police, which we have also recovered from the agency. For Claims, reconfirm the following details
1. Full Name:
2. Home / Office Address:
3. Direct Phone Number:
4. Country:
5 sex and Age:
6 Occupation:

Do not forget to quote your Compensation Ref. No: IMF/UN/FQ7XX, and Your Full Name. For more inquiry call or telegram +1 430 342 1052

Congratulations,
Dr.James Ode Watts
(MD) International Monetary Fund

Anti-fraud resources: