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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: "c" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <infbolaji.icpcwa@mynet.com>
Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2019 05:40:51 -0800
Subject: ## letter from icpc

Attn. Sir/Mandam. 
 
I am the Chairman Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC). NOTE: If you received this message in your SPAM/JUNK folder, that is because of the restrictions implemented by your Internet Service Provider, we urge you to treat it genuinely. This is to announce to you that your inheritance funds valued USD$10.5M has been approved among fifty two foreign beneficiaries and bonded to our affiliate bankers abroad which are: FRANCE, ITALY or MALAYSIA for immediate release. This is due to the strict financial regulations, lots of certifications/transfer back-up documents required in moving funds out of this country.
 
I am sending this message to you and every other foreign beneficiary that are on the same payment list as a sound warning,  never to  send money to anybody in Nigeria in regards to your approved inheritance funds. If you do from henceforth, you are automatically wasting your money and time because you will never get your fund from them.
 
Note: if you are among those that have already send money to some crooks in Nigeria in time past, and you have information about the people, kindly forward to my email/office and leave the rest to me. As I and my teams /the Chairman Senate Committee Federal Republic of Nigeria, are working seriously to correct the image of Nigeria before the international community.
 
In conclusion, once we are through with the processing, be 100% rest assured that my office and the Nigeria National Assembly shall send letter of  approval and of recommendation to Nigerian Government approved affiliate bankers abroad, either FRANCE  or  MALAYSIA  to pay you without you going through stress.  Finally, you are required to respond ASAP with the following details to enable the processing.
 
1) YOUR FULL NAME.
2) YOUR ADDRESS.
3) YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER.
4) YOUR OCCUPATION
5) YOUR IDENTITY.
6) COUNTRY
 
Yours faithfully,
Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye
Chairman - ICPC
Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Personal E-mail:

Anti-fraud resources: