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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: "Lev Bondal" <levbondal130@msn.com>
Reply-To: lev77bondal@yahoo.pl
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 16:13:43 +0000
Subject: FROM MR LEV

DEAR FRIEND,
MY NAME IS MR LEV BONDAL, PERSONAL SECRETARY
TO MR. BORIS MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY, OWNER OF YUKOS OIL
IN RUSSIA WHO WAS JAILED DURING THE PRECEEDING WEEKS
FOR FINANCING POLITICAL PARTIES (the Union of Right
Forces, led by Boris Nemtsov, and Yabloko, a
liberal/social democratic party led by Gregor
Yavlinsky), OPPOSED TO THE GOVERNMENT OF MR. VLADMIR
PUTIN, THE PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA FEDERATION, THEREBY
LEADING TO THE FREEZING OF HIS FINANCES AND ASSETS.
I HAVE THE DOCUMENTS OF A LARGE AMOUNT OF FUNDS WHICH
HE GAVE TO ME BEFORE HIS ARREST AND TRIAL AND I AM
CONTACTING YOU TO ASSIST ME TO RE-PROFILE THE FUNDS
AND EQUALLY INVEST SAME ON BEHALF OF HIS FAMILY.
THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF FUNDS TO BE RE-PROFILLED IS FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS(USD$50,000,000.00) AND YOU WILL BE PAID 10% FOR
YOUR MANAGEMENT SERVICES. AS SOON AS I RECEIVE YOUR
ACCEPTANCE, I WILL SEND YOU THE NECESSARY DETAILS AND
MY IDENTIFICATION.
YOURS SINCERELY,
MR LEV BONDAL
NB: YOU CAN READ MORE OF HIS ORDEAL FROM;
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0920791.html
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/may2005/nf20050517_1831_db016.htm?
campaign_id=rss_topStories
http://www.khodorkovskytrial.com/
 

Anti-fraud resources: