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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: "THOMAS THORSEN" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <yyamashita65@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2019 15:24:23 +0100
Subject: PAYMENT APPROVED. REPLY ASAP.

Sir,

We have been directed to carry out a thorough examination of various issues raised in the petitions with a view of effecting the transfer of your payment immediately. Going through the records in our database system, it was discovered from all the relevant documents we have at our disposal that your payment is one of the few genuine overdue approved payments, though with some irregularities that demand immediate clarification from you.

Was it by the alleged transaction or agreement between you and to one James W. Miller that your payment be directed to these designated bank
account Co-ordinates as stated below? Kindly reconfirm to us immediately so that your payment will not be wired into a wrong account as stated below:

James W. Miller
Company Name: J.W.Miller & Associates, Inc.
Address: 2 Hale Street, Miller Building
Charleston, West Virginia, USA, 25301
President/CEO: James W. Miller

Bank Name City National Bank
Address 817 Virginia Street, East
Charleston, West Virginia, USA, 25301
Account Name: J.W.Miller & Associates, Inc.
Account Number: # 8002766148
Routing Code: ABA # 051904524

However, there were counter claims over your payment prominent among the discrepancies discovered is an application/Sworn declaration deposed for a change of account number, purporting that you are terminally sick and wish that your fund be transferred to the account of James W. Miller.

If the above mentioned statement is false, and you did not authorize anyone to change your account details for the transfer of your payment, do not hesitate to revert back to us as a matter of urgency as time is of the essence. While looking forward to hear from you, I sincerely crave your pardon for the rather short notice and the inconvenience this might cause you.

Revert back to us as a matter of urgency.

Yours faithfully,

THOMAS THORSEN.

Anti-fraud resources: