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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: "UNITED NATIONS PAYMENT" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <johnsonfred196@yahoo.es>
Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2012 21:45:06 -0400
Subject: GREETINGS BENEFICIARY

Attention: Beneficiary. This email is to all the people that have been scammed in any part of the world,This includes every foreign contractors that may have not received their contract sum, and people that have had an unfinished transaction or international businesses that failed due to Government problems etc. Your name is among those in our list and that is why we are contacting you,the UNITED NATIONS in conjunction with the present US government and world bank agreed to compensate you with the sum of US3,000,000.00 compensation/winning fund. You are advised to contact Rev Johnson Fred he is our foreign representative in Africa being responsible for immediate dispatch of your ATM CARD credited with the total sum of US3,000,000.00 contact him immediately for your ATM CARD. Contact . Rev Johnson Fred for your Card:  Email: johnsonfred196@yahoo.es  , Telephone:+234-7060649771  Regards. Ban Ki Moon On behalf of the United Nations.

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