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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: "Merith A. Jennings" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <info.treasuryfinanceonlineunit@rocketmail.com>
Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2012 08:27:17 +0100
Subject: Good news about your compensation fund

Greetings and compliments of the season.

I am Merith A. Jennings, the Executive Director in charge of Treasury Department, International wire transfers of Benin Republic Federal Ministry of Finance. You are to reply through this office email address: [info.treasuryfinanceonlineunit@rocketmail.com] because this is to inform you that your fund was brought to my desk because the director & management of the WESTERN UNION & MONEYGRAM transfer have declared to divert your fund to the government treasury account just because you can not pay the wire transfer fee. In reasoning wisely to this complain I told them to wait until I hear from you today so that I will know the reason why you decide to reject such amount of money USD$1.5Million which is your rightful & legal overdue inheritance payment just because of transfer fee.
The reason why I sent this email to you is because its your sweat and for this reason you still have this last chance to claim your fund if you can send USD $40.00 today because I have already arranged your fund to be made available to you through bank draft or ATM card but failing to do this, I will allow them to have power over your fund and am very sorry if you failed as this is the last chance. The $40.00 is for postage of your bank draft or ATM Card to your stated address.
Therefore, send the USD$40.00 immediately you receive this email today and email your current address to me if you want your USD$1.5Million fund to be sent to you through bank draft or ATM but the maximum amount you can withdraw in ATM card per day is USD$10,000.00 until you collect your complete USD $1.5Million. The second option is for you to send me the full detail of your bank account if you want your fund be fully transferred by direct bank to bank wire transfer to your account at once. After you have sent the $40.00 and email me the mtcn numbers, you are to indicate your wish to receive your funds as I have stated above and the funds will be released to you without any hitch.
Here is the western union or moneygram information in the name of my accountant to avoid delay in receiving your fund and remember that i have done my best for you and i will make sure that your wire will begin to be released to you from the moment you sent this $40.00 .
Send the $40.00 now and send me email with the western union mtcn or moneygram reference numbers when you send the money , you can as well call me on this number +229-90213187 when you have sent the money now OK.

Receivers Name:......ANIM SETH
Country:................... Benin
City :.................. Cotonou.
Test Question:...............Colour
Answer :..................White
Amount to send: .............$40.00

Send it and email the MTCN control number, amount sent, name and address of sender to me for easy collection and once again remember to reply through this office email address info.treasuryfinanceonlineunit@rocketmail.com
TAKE NOTE: REPLY ONLY THROUGH THIS EMAIL: info.treasuryfinanceonlineunit@rocketmail.com

Faithfully,

Merith A. Jennings.
Treasury Department,
International Wire Transfers,
Federal Ministry of Finance Benin Republic.
Telephone: +229-90213187

Anti-fraud resources: