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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: "Barr. Lesley Jones" <drlesleyjones2@gmail.com>
Reply-To: cbarrjones2@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2022 22:22:10 -0800
Subject: WESTERN UNION REWARD

Dear Sir / Madam,

For 170 years, Western Union has been connecting people. At Western
Union, there's so much more than money you're sending or receiving.
Every sender and receiver is important to us. To celebrate our 170th
anniversary, we're rewarding some of our customers with prizes of
$100, 000 (One hundred thousand United States dollar)

Because you or your friend, relatives sent money through western
union, from an agent location or received money through Western Union,
you've been selected to receive $100, 000 (One hundred thousand United
States dollar)

However, you are required to forward the following information below
for immediate process of your payment. Note: Our office will have no
other choice than to send your funds to charity home as unclaimed
bills if you feel reluctant to claim it.

1.) Full name:
2.) Contact address:
3.) Country:
4.) Age:
5.) Gender:
6.) Occupation:
7.) Mobile Telephone Number:
8.) Email:

You will be directed to reach the paying bank for immediate payment as
soon as you forward the above details to us. Payment method: Bank to
bank transfer. Save time, send money, earn rewards! Western Union is a
service people trust. Sorry if you received this mail in your spam
folder, is due to recent connection error from the service provider

Regards
Lesley. Jones
Western Union money Transfer representative

Western Union United Kingdom
PO Box 8252
LONDON W6 0BX
United Kingdom

Thank you for using Western Union!
-----------------------------------------------------

We endeavor to maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards
to guard your Information. We also endeavor to restrict Information
access to our employees, agents and representatives that need to know
it. Western Union will never disclose your personal or billing
information to a third party.

Anti-fraud resources: