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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: =?UTF-8?B?QWRtaW4gMjAyMcKp?= <e1755535@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mr.forbesduncan@outlook.com
Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2021 06:53:25 +0200
Subject: Ref: Urgent support

Dear Respected,



Greetings! If you receive this email in your spam/bulk folder, it's because
of the restrictions imposed by your mail/internet service provider and I
urge you to treat this message as genuine.



My name is Mr. Duncan Forbes, It is a pleasure to write to you within the
National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI). I'm the director of audit
and project implementation. I got your contact email online, on my search
on the internet for a reputable company/individual abroad to assist me
confidentially with which your information profile was very satisfactory
and I decided to contact you for an urgent business. I have in my
possession an overdue payment fund in a private bank account. The said
funds represent a certain percentage of the contract value already executed
on behalf of my department by a foreign contracting firm and as the senior
official in the energy department, I over-invoiced the cost to an extra
amount of Five Million United States dollars ($5, 000,000.00).



The actual contract cost has been paid in full to the original contractor,
and leaving the excess balance mentioned above sum unclaimed since the
present Government determined to pay all foreign contractors debts owed
before the Christmas holidays to maintain good relationships with foreign
governments/non-government agencies. My colleagues and I decided to include
our bills for approvals with the Department of Finance. I am now seeking
your assistance to introduce you as a beneficiary of the unclaimed fund
because I am not allowed to operate a foreign bank account, and I cannot
deposit the said funds into my local bank account to avoid raising an
eyebrow.



Details and change of beneficiary information upon application for claim to
reflect payment and approvals will be secured on your behalf/your Company.
Should you assist me in realizing this transaction, I agree to compensate
with 35% of the total funds and the balance of 65% will be for me and
colleagues. Also, I wish to assure you that this transaction is completely
safe and secure provided that you'll treat this information given to you
with utmost confidentiality. It does not matter whether you/your company
does contract projects, because I am going to use my contact and
credibility to secure a transfer power in favor of you/your Company. Your
area of specialization is not a hindrance to the successful execution of
this transaction. I have reposed my confidence in you and hope that you
will not disappoint me.



Thank you for your cooperation and I look forward to your candid email
reply.



Best regards,

Mr. Duncan Forbes

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