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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: Ted Maxwell <6432169te6432@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 22 May 2023 22:23:26 +0100
Subject: RE:RE:REPLY REPLY

RE: IN GOD WE TRUST.
Ref: F.DRP//N.T/2023

Greetings

My name is Ted Maxwell (FDRP). I know that you might be receiving
Emails like this from dubious people here in Nigeria, Ghana, Africa or
Europe who claim what they are not and they have disappointed you in
the
time past. This office will curb the menace of corruption that constitutes
the clog in the wheel of progress; protect national and foreign investments
in the country; imbue the spirit of hard work in the citizenry and
discourage ill gotten wealth; build an upright workforce in both public and
private sectors of the economy and; contribute to the global war against
financial crimes. I know that many offices have contacted you and they also
claim that they are CBN Governor or they work with the presidency or from
offshore payment centers both in Europe, Africa, Asia or America’s but all
these are lies and fraudsters. I know you must be surprised at this
development, but I chose to tell you the truth because of my sincere wish
to treat every man, as I would expect to be treated.

After thorough investigation and conclusion on foreign contract/inheritance
payment files as directed by the presidency, I discovered that it would
take a long process for your money to be released due to some
irregularities detected in your files and also some officials claiming that
they are new appointed ministers of CBN or other government agencies.
During our investigation, we found out that you have spent so much money in
trying to realize your payment, which did not even reflect in your file,
but I have an offer, which will at least help your financial stand until
you receive your contract payment. This offer is an amount from Federal
Government diplomatic compensation program. It is a total sum of
us$2,500,000.00 (Two million Five Hundred Thousand United States dollars
only), which will be shared between you and me in the ratio of 60%-40%.
(60% for you and 40% for me.)

This amount is not from your contract or Inheritance sum or has anything
related to your contract or Inheritance sum, rather I was instructed by the
President to give a final clearance to some listed diplomats who supported
him during his last election in office for a token of appreciation. I am
offering you this because I have seen that your contract or Inheritance
fund will not be released until all the anomalies are rectified and also
because you are a category ‘A’ contractor or Inheritance payment and this
present government is not paying out any contract or Inheritance payment
because of limited foreign allocations.

The only thing needed for this us$2.5 million to be transferred into your
account under 48 hours is as follows;

(I) Your valid bank Account details and Proof of identity.
(11) Normalisation/Re-validation of your Account

For your information, this is not a contract or Inheritance payment.
Therefore there will be no bureaucracy or misfortune. Please note that if
you are willing to make this deal with me, you should contact me furnishing
me with your bank account. Also be informed that this transaction will take
us just 48 hours to accomplish.

Yours truly,
Ted Maxwell

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