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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: "Federal Reserve Bank New York" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jhoward.reservebank.us@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2016 09:41:56 +0100
Subject: Federal Reserve Bank New York

Federal Reserve Bank New York
33, Liberty Street, New York, NY 10038 USA.
Ref.: Final Payment Release Update.
Amount Valued: US$10, 500, 000.00.


Attention;

I am obliged to update you of the meeting held today between the US
Department of the Homeland Security, the Central Intelligence Agency,
the International Monetary Fund and other concerned monetary agencies
regarding to your fund valued $10.5m which was returned to the
government treasury account due to your inability of fulfilling the
required financial obligations for receiving the payment.

After going through your payment files, I have come to understand the
inconvenience and financial commitments you have invested so far for
the pursuit of this fund which was all to no avail.

However, considering your efforts towards achieving this aim, we have
come to maintain equity, justice and fairness in our dealings with
beneficiaries such as yours, hence we have insisted that your funds
should be reversed from the government treasury and be released to you
accordingly.

So on this note, we have immediately secured an approval for payment
on your behalf and have processed your fund release to this effect.

Therefore all you were required now is to reconfirm your residential
address, occupation, telephone number and your complete banking
details where the funds would be transferred to you immediately, hence
we avoid being held responsible in any wrongful transfer thereafter.

Awaiting for the required information as soon as possible to enable us
expedite immediate action on your fund transfer now.

Thanks in anticipation of your co-operation,

Yours sincerely,
Mr. James Howard ,
Director Remittance Department, US Federal Reserve Bank.

Anti-fraud resources: