419 scam: FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION <t

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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:
- "clearance certificate" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "western union" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "money gram" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "mtcn" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "clearance certificate" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "huge amount of money" (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)
- "lagos" (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.
Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
MoneyGram money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. Along with Western Union it is a preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.

Fraud email example:

From: FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION <t_iburu@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: fbi_gov02@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2014 11:13:04 -0700
Subject: Beneficiary

FBI Office in New York, NY
Federal Bureau of Investigation
26 Federal Plaza, New York, NY 10278

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI)

We have been directed to inform you that we have been monitoring all your contacts with some fraudsters/impostors on the internet that claims to be working for the Nigerian Government and the FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS (FBI) and this agency which is HOMELAND SECURITY SERVICES AND THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (CIA) has been on your aid in other to protect you from being prosecuted by the International Crimes Department by asking you to secure the FREE CITIZEN CERTIFICATE after the Clean Bill Certificate has been issued to you previously by the FBI as we have it here in our database but instead of you doing that you still continue your contact with the Criminals on the internet that claim to be working for the release of some fraudulent funds to you.

You are suppose to have been arrested earlier before now by the CIA following the orders that were given by the International Crimes Department, the Nigerian government has been contacted on this development and they are also helping us in tracking down on the criminals that has been confusing you all this while.

So right now all you need to do in other to protect your image and that of your entire country is to get the FRAUD CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE as you have been warned because we are suppose to carry out the arrest on you today but due to the fact that some assignments was carried out by the fraud department of the FBI, it has been canceled and the new date would be announced later.

This is the final notification that i would be sending to you because we already have all your details/information and your ID in our database which would be forwarded to the WORLD COURT as your name has been enlisted in the WORLD SCAM RECORDS as a top 11 fraudster.

For the last time we are advising that you stop any further contact with any person or group of persons that claims to be working for the issuance of your funds because no such funds exist as far as we are concerned and the only funds that was entitled to you of which the FBI has been given the necessary order to necessitate the transfer is the compensation funds which is valued at the sum of $12million usd that was issued to by the Nigerian Government to compensate you for the embarrassment and insults to your personality which the Nigerian Fraudsters used your identity to dupe a German business man of a huge amount of money and which we are still investigating until this moment.

If you know that you really want to save your life and the future of your family, we are advising that you secure the FRAUD CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE so that your name can be shortlisted from the scammers list which has already been submitted to the International Crimes Department and this certificate will give access to the issuance of
your compensation funds.We have also spread our networks to the following countries which are Australia, Canada, Africa, United Kingdom, Asia and Poland.

All the people that have their names in the list would be inset in our website any moment from now because we are charged to wipe away all the fraudulent transactions being held on the internet in which many people have lost their lives and properties. So it will be better for you to update us on the actual date in which you would be able to make the payment of $125 Usd to the agency over there in Nigeria for them to issue the FRAUD CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE to you because that is the only guarantee that would make us believe that your name and ID was really forged and not real as claimed because the German Business Man has contacted all the Crimes Agency on this matter and it was your ID that he has placed in all the Crimes Department for a search of you.

This Certificate will be attached along with the previous Clean Bill Certificate so that the attorney who is handling this process could get everything mandated as you have only 12hours to co-operate with this directives and this last Certificate as stated by the issuance department would cost you the sum of $125 Usd and this fees should be paid within a short while from now on.

The payment should be sent through either Western Union Money Transfer or Money Gram Transfer with the below details:

Receivers Name: MACANTHONY NWABUNWANNE
Location: LAGOS NIGERIA
Text Question: WHAT FOR
Text Answer: GOOD
Amount: $125 Usd.

The payment details should be sent once the payment has been sent and don't forget to include the Senders Name and Address and the MTCN NUMBER.

This is our advise to you and we do hope to get a positive feed back from you as soon as possible.

BEST REGARD
AGENT WALTER SKINNER
FBI SPECIAL AGENT FOR CRIMES/FRAUD

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam