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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: "Mr. Smith Carlson," <offfund@gmail.com>
Reply-To: "Mr. Smith Carlson," <post_office1@qq.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2015 14:35:11 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: CONTACT POST OFFICE FOR YOUR ATM CARD


 Greetings,

I’m Mr Smith Carlson, the new appointed Postman of Regular Mail Post Office branched at Cotonou Benin. I assumed this office on 12th,

Jan, 2015. On going through the files of the previous records of this office, I discovered that there are six parcels containing ATM cards
each one attached with an email address of the owner on it. The former appointee of this office (Alhaji Ahmed Musa Jr.) failed to carry
out the delivery as it was instructed and programmed. Probably, one of his reasons for not carrying out the delivery was that you have not
provided your postal address to him for the completion of the delivery as he remarked.

According to the content recorded in each file, the ATM card was deposited by one Senior Evangelist Mathew Peterson who died one
year back as a charity foundation parcel to each of the six of you. On the statement he wrote on the list, he stated that each of the
aforementioned ATM cards contains the sum of US$2,500,000.00 and he found your email contacts as reputable and capable persons
that can use the charity awarded ATM Cards to change the lives of people.
Meanwhile, I've made the arrangement of posting the six parcels through Regular Mail Post Office to the six of you to your respective
mailing addresses.

Am also sending the same message of the same content to six of you that own the six abandoned ATM CARDS each at the same time. If
found in spam folder, it could be due to your Internet Service Provider, ISP. So move to your inbox before your reply.

I went to our head office at Cotonou Benin and reported the issue of the discovered six ATM cards in my office and they verified it and
gave me the veto order to carry out the delivery immediately you reconfirm your mailing address to this office in order for us to mail the
ATM CARD directly to you after Postal Stamp of the parcel. Note, below information is officially needed for posting of the CARD ASAP.

Full name:
Full mailing info:
Your cell phone line:
Country:
Nearest Airport:
5. Your sex/age;
6. Your id:
Passport:

We shall post your ATM Card once you update us with the above info and you shall be given a tracking number, that is, the Track and
Trace number of your parcel once it is posted to your mailing address, so as to enable you track your parcel to know exactly when it will
arrive to your mailing address.

Remain blessed as I'll be looking forward to receiving your immediate response.

Regards,
Mr. Smith Carlson,
CONTACT Email: post_office1@qq.com
Postman, Regular Mail Post Office Cotonou Benin.

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