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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: "Michael J." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <michaeljorge85@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2018 07:32:02 +0100
Subject: Resolution on your package

Hello,
 
I am Mr. Michael Jorge, Senior officer at JF Kennedy Int'l Airport. I am contacting you regarding an abandoned package and the x-ray scan reported that the package revealed some U.S dollars bill in it which could be approximately 12,5Million Dollars and the official paper of the package indicates your contact details. To confirm you as the authentic beneficiary, do send me your full name, your home address, your mobile telephone #, occupation and the nearest airport to your home address.
 
For your information the package was abandoned by a diplomat who was on transit to your location because he was not able to pay the ATL clearance fee he abandoned it with the authority without any notification of his arrival for clearance. I have taken it upon myself to contact you personally about this abandoned package so that we can transact this as a deal to enable you compensate me as soon as your package delivery is concluded. My main purpose of contacting you is that the U.S. Custom's Border and Protection are on clearance for some beneficiaries abandoned consignment for 2017 that will be listed among the list for confiscation to be transfer to the US Treasury for 2018 as an unclaimed effect.
 
I want both of us to transact this as a deal. And also I want your trust as the arrangement for the box to be delivered to you which can be concluded within 4-6hours after confirmation is made and your willingness to co-operate.
 
All communication must be held extremely confidential to ensure a successful delivery.
 
I will be waiting your response with necessary information to enable us proceed.
 
Warmest Regards
 
Michael Jorge

Anti-fraud resources: