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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: "Steven Mnuchin" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <smnuchin5@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2019 00:02:23 -0500
Subject: Re; Payment !!!

Dear Beneficiary

I am Steven T. Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury under the U.S. Department of the Treasury. At the recently concluded meeting with the World Bank and the United Nations Compensation Committee,an agreement was reached between both parties for us to settle all outstanding payments accrued to individuals/corporations with respect to local and overseas contract payment, debt re-scheduling and outstanding compensation payment.

Six categories of claims were set up: Claims from individuals forced around the World between the invasion and the cease fire, Terrorist Attacks, Earthquakes, Internet Fraudsters (Category A);Claims from individuals who (or whose family) suffered injuries or Death as a result of the invasion (B); Claims from individuals for business losses, pain and anguish, property damage etc.

Your email was luckily picked among others from an electronic ballot just conducted, for the payment of $4.5M (Four Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars only).

Feel Free to contact me back for further proceedings of your approved claims and you are to contact me back with your full names,residential address,Country of Origin/Country of Residence,Age,Phone Number and Occupation as required above.

Looking forward to hearing from you and God Bless America.

Yours faithfully,
Steven T. Mnuchin
Secretary of the Treasury
(U.S. Department Of The Treasury)

Anti-fraud resources: