419 scam: African Union Headquarters <african.union151@msn.com> Your Payment (FROM AU)

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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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "money laundering" ("anti-terrorist", "anti-money laundering" or "drug-free" certificates are a common way for criminals in fake lottery scams and other Advance Fee scams to get you to send money to them. There are no such certificates in the real banking world. )
- "economic and financial crimes commission" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "(efcc)" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
1. They don't notify winners by email.
2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +2347023330731
This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- federalministryoffinance_nigeria@ciudad.com.ar (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: African Union Headquarters <african.union151@msn.com>
Reply-To: <federalministryoffinance_nigeria@ciudad.com.ar>
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 08:32:51 +0000
Subject: Your Payment (FROM AU)

African Union Headquarters,
P.O. Box 3243, Roosvelt Street,
(Old Airport Area), W21K19,
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Compliments of the day,

We hereby informed you that through the Chairman (MUAMMAR AL-GADDAFI), we have mandated the "Economic and Financial Crimes Commission" (EFCC) with the help of Interpol (French Organization) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI) to arrest those that has been involved in advance fee fraud all over Africa. The African Union (AU) has swear to fight corruption to the end in Africa. The African Union (AU) upholds the sovereign equality and independence of its 53 member states and aims to promote peace, security and solidarity on the African continent

Our duties is to make sure that we stop internet scam and money laundering. The Authorities involved have put a lot of fraudsters in jail. They go all over Africa to pick this thieves/internet rats. We have over 8,273 of them in jails round Africa and they are still looking for more. We are aware that a lot of foreigners out there have been deceived and lost their hard earn money to these fraudsters after promising them percentages in their letters/e-mails for their impending help to move funds out Africa including fake lottery winning notification and at the end of the day, they will collect thousands of dollars from you without a successful end.

Please, watch one of the video links below as some of these fraudsters were arrested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISMgGdaGOJM

It was agreed that to retain the good image of Nigeria and the rest of Africa countries, The African Union (AU) has mapped out US$3.5 Billion Dollars to COMPENSATE all the victims who lost his/her hard earn money to these faceless thieves. All the victims who lost his/her hard earn money to these faceless thieves will be compensated with just US$25,000.00 (Twenty five thousands United Stated Dollars only) each. This we assume will help you to start a new life.

To that effect, we are sending you this e-mail because your contact details were given to us as one of the victims. Since the Interpol and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have stepped into this matter, be rest assured that you are safe as it is their duty to protect and serve the citizens of United Kingdom and United States of America in particular and the rest of the world in general.

The Honorable Minister of Finance in Nigeria (Dr. Mansur Muhtar) is the contact person.

TO FILE FOR YOUR CLAIM, PLEASE, FILL THE REQUIRED INFORMATION AS STATED BELOW AND SEND IT TO HONOURABLE MINISTER OF FINANCE IN NIGERIA (DR. MANSUR MUHTAR) IMMEDIATELY. ALL MATTERS RELATING TO THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF YOUR COMPENSATION FUND HAS BEEN REGULARIZED AND FINAL APPROVALS HAVE BEEN ISSUED OUT.

1. YOUR FULL NAME
2. YOUR AGE
3. SEX:
4. HOUSE OR OFFICE ADDRESS (P.O BOX NOT ACCEPTABLE),
5. OCCUPATION
6. YOUR PHONE NUMBER(S)
7. COUNTRY:

NAME: DR. MANSUR MUHTAR
TEL: +234 702 333 0731
E-mail: federalministryoffinance_nigeria@ciudad.com.ar

Immediately you send the above required information to DR. MANSUR MUHTAR, he will proceed with the Processing/Releasing of your payment to you within 2-3 working days based on our agreement.

IMPORTANT: UNDER PENALTY OF LAW, THE INFORMATION YOU SUBMITTED TO US CURRECTLY IDENTIFY YOU AS THE RECIPIENT OF THIS PAYMENT; NO OTHER LIVING PERSON OR ENTITY IS ENTITLED TO ANY PART OF THIS PAYMENT; IT IS A VIOLATION OF LAW FOR ANY PERSON TO INTENTIONALLY OR KNOWINGLY FILLING FOR DOUBLE CLAIMING OR AID ANOTHER PERSON IN CLAIMING THE SAME FUND, BY MEANS OF FRAUD OR DECEIT. BE WARNED

We are aware that these fraudsters has broken a lot of home(s), made a lot of people to lose their job, sell their properties, closed their business, put many on the street, and made a lot to even lose their life. We are very sorry.

Best Regards,

H.E. Mr. Erastus Mwencha,
Deputy Chairperson, African Union

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam