419 scam: "Mrs. Farida Waziri" <wfarida58@yahoo.com> Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)

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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:

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:
- "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. )
- "million dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "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. )
- "farida waziri" (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. )
- "abuja" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Mrs. Farida Waziri" <wfarida58@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: faridawaziri25@live.com
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2011 19:36:54 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)

Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
EFCC Head Quarters, Abuja, Nigeria.
My Name is Mrs. Farida Waziri the new
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
chairperson in Nigeria.
Good day,
First we introduce this commission; economic & financial crimes commission
(EFCC) we fight cyber crime fraud scam money laundering in Africa. Our
commission has been in existence since 2004.
Our duties are to stop internet fraud scam. As for today we have put a lot
of fraudsters behind bars, a lot of them are in jail we go all over
Africa, Europe & Asia to pick this thiefs.
We have over 687 of them in our jails round Africa, Europe & Asia and we
are still looking for more, we are aware that a lot of foreigners out
there have been deceived tricked and lost a lot of money to this
fraudsters after promising you percentages in their letters for you to
help them move funds at the end of the day, they will collect thousands of
dollars from you making you a poor person.
All the African, Europe & Asia crime fighters leaders has come together to
inform the world what is going on now and we have recover over $322
million dollars(three hundred and twenty two million dollars) from the
people we have behind bars. The only reason we are writing you this
letter, is because your name was given to us by one of the fraudsters
in our jail house, that he collected money from by tricks.
Our action now is to refund back money to foreigners who lost money to
these thiefs. We are paying back from the money we recovered. We can only
refund you if your name is mentioned and you show us prove of how much you
lost. If this
letter gets to you then you are mentioned.
But if it gets to you by mistake and you have not lost any money then
please disregard it.
If you know any person family or friend that has lost money to fraudsters
please tell him/her to write to this commission with proves and we will
handle his/her case then pay back after verification.
We are aware these fraudsters has broken a lot of home, made a lot of
people to lose their job, sell their properties, close their business, put
many on the street, and made a lot to even lose their life. Please you are
to reach us in
our email address above for further clarifications on how you are to
receive your lost funds you are to forward your full particulars and
recent telephone and fax numbers to our email address above on if you are
a victim.

Regards,
Mrs. Farida Waziri
Chair person,
EFCC.
Website:http://www.efccnigeria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=155&Itemid=64

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam