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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: "HM Revenue and Customs" (may be fake)
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2017 22:04:52 +0100
Subject: Pending Tax Refund

Dear Customer,

For your security, your Online Banking service has been temporarily locked. We have been trying to contact you. However, we are unable to reach you. This is due to a slight detected in your account information.We have temporarily desable access to your account(s) and certain features within our banking system as a security measure. Such as (Receive payments, Make payments or withdraw funds).

To continue banking with us and to ensure that your service is not interrupted, we request you to confirm and update your account information with us immediately by click on the log in button below

Login

Yours sincerely

How does it work?

If we detect a sign in attempt with your user name from an unrecognized device we may decide that we want to confirm that it's really you. You must complete all steps otherwise you will not be able to use the online service.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this action.

Anti-fraud resources: