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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. MERRILL LYNCH" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lyngh.merrill@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2019 09:01:49 -0400
Subject: RE: BANK OF AMERICA REPLY

External Review Committee on Debt Statistics
BANK OF AMERICA
MIAMI, FL UNITED STATE OF AMERICA.
Attention: Customer,
The management of this bank want to notify you that sum of (6.5 million United States Dollars your compensation fund has been transfer in our bank by Federal Government in other to transfer into your bank account,We assure you that your payment will get to you as long as you follow my instructions.
1) Your full name:......................
2) Address,....................... .
3) Cell Phone......................... .......
4) Copy of your int'l passport/drivers license ................
5) Occupation:................... ..............
I want you to understand that BANK TRANSFER will take only 2 working days to hit your norminated bank account,Thanks for banking with Bank Of America while we looking forward to serve you better.
MR. MERRILL LYNCH
INTERNATIONAL MANAGER
BANK OF AMERICA

Anti-fraud resources: