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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: Mr Usman Bello <chik4tim@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: us3333bello@yahoo.co.jp
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 04:52:02 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: TRANSACTION LETTER (VERY CONFIDENTIAL) FROM CHAIRMAN CONTRACT AWARD & MONITORING COMMITTEE

TRANSACTION LETTER (VERY CONFIDENTIAL) FROM CHAIRMAN CONTRACT AWARD & MONITORING COMMITTEE

Sir,
This letter might come as a surprise to you especially since we have never met or discuss before. Basically, the message might sound strange but it is factual in reality if only you care to know. The truth is that I should have notified you first through a more confidential means, (even if it's at least to respect your integrity) please accept my humble apologies if I had caught you unawares, i frankly do not mean any harm in passing my message.
We are members of the Special Committee for Budget and Planning of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources. This committee is principally concerned with contract appraisal and the approval of contract in order of priorities as regards capital projects of the federal executive government of Nigeria with our positions we have successfully secured for ourselves the sum of Twenty million five hundred thousand dollars (us$20.5M) the amount was accumulated from the over invoice. Hence, together with some of the top officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Federal Ministry of Finance.
We plan to transfer this amount of money twenty million five hundred thousand dollars (us$20.5M) into an overseas account by awarding a non existing contract from my ministry (NNPC). To this effect i decided to contact you and ask for your assistance. What we need from you sir, is to provide a very vital account in which the funds will be transferred. My colleagues and I have agreed to compensate the owner of the account used for this transaction with 25% of the total amount remitted. We shall keep 73% and remaining 2% reserved for taxes. Finally, the confidence and trust reposed on you cannot be over emphasized.

Therefore, you are to keep this deal to yourself confidentially. Calibers of personnel involved are men in government. So cannot effort to loose our respective reputation to our dear country if jeopardize by you.

Contact me urgently with private detail information for our easier communication

SINCERELY YOURS
MR USMAN BELLO
CHAIRMAN CONTRACT AWARD & MONITORING COMMITTEE

Anti-fraud resources: