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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: "UNITED NATIONS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <helpdesk907@zoho.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2017 17:03:14 +0300
Subject: 2017 COMPENSATION INTERNET PROGRAMS(R)

Attention: Prominent Internet user,
How are you today? We hope this mail meets you in a perfect condition. This is a total cash prize of Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars { $500,000.00 } given to the first TEN (10) beneficiaries compensated in the WORLD INTERNET PROGRAMS. All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Web site through computer draw system and extracted from over 50 companies worldwide.
We are using this opportunity to thank you due to your effort using the Internet daily, we compensated to show our gratitude to you with the sum of $500,000.00 only, We have arranged your payment through our swift card centers, which is the latest instruction from First US Bank Reconciliation Office {First US Bank}.
The card center will send you a preloaded Debit/Gift-card which you will use to withdraw your money in any ATM machine, Banks and Union Pay Credit outlets ; you are selected as an honor for this payment approval, which you are to acknowledge the receipt of this mail to the Logistic Department by email listed below.
Your ID: 345HE45
Claim Number: 809366E
Contact Agent. Mr.Francis Hayes with below e-mail;
Compensation Financial Control/Special Duties
E-mail: helpdesk907@zoho.com
Contact Agent: Mr.Francis Hayes
Text Message Only: +1 940-400-2286
Congrats
Yours Faithfully,
Mrs.Bessel Harris.
2017 WORLD INTERNET PROGRAMS®

Anti-fraud resources: