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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: "Mr. Robert Steven Kaplan" <info@fdrs.net>
Reply-To: federalreservesystemfrs@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2019 00:28:05 -0800
Subject: Federal Reserve Dallas District...

Dear Beneficiary,

This is a notification message from the Federal Reserve Dallas District, Your name is enlisted among the beneficiary whose fund was approved for payment by the Board the Governors of The Federal Reserve Bank. We have been waiting for you to contact us to claim your fund of $5.5 Million dollars, but to our surprise one Mrs. Brenda Miller came forward for the fund saying that you asked her to claim the fund on your behalf with document evidence which we are not sure of its source. This was why we decided to contact you to confirm to us if you really sent Mrs. Brenda Miller. She said you instructed her that the fund should be transferred to the below account details. I will advise that you change your email password, because your email is be used to write to us, but because of the name on the account, we have to confirm.

Bank name : Heritage Oaks
Bank Address : 545 Twelfth St, Paso Robles, California 93448
Phone Number: 1(805)239-5200
Account number: 001453521
Routing: 122239982
Swiftcode: HEOAUS61
Beneficiary name: Brenda Miller

Most importantly, confirm to us urgently if you gave permission to Mrs. Brenda Miller to claim the fund on your behalf and if in a case where you did not authorize anybody then you will have to stop communicating with the impersonators and the organizations, because they are trying to divert your fund to themselves. She is trying so hard to change the fund ownership to her name. We await your prompt response.

Yours in Service
Robert Steven Kaplan (federalreservesystemfrs@gmail.com)

Federal Reserve System 2200 N Pearl St, Dallas, TX 75201, USA

Anti-fraud resources: