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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: "Mrs.Sophia Hiton" (may be fake)
Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2022 17:42:14 +0100
Subject: From Mrs.Sophia Hiton

336, Victoria Embankment, Westminster, United States Of America. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, We hereby inform you that the British Interpol, Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI) United States of America, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of Nigeria, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, with President of Nigeria (MUHAMMAD BUHARI) and all the African Crime fighter leaders have come together to inform the world what is going on now and we have recovered over US$3.6 Billion Dollars from the people we have behind bars. Our duties is to make sure we stop internet scam and money laundering.As for today we have put a lot of fraudsters in jail we go all over Africa to pick this thieves/internet rats. We have over 10,273 of them in our jails round Africa and we are still looking for more. We are aware that a lot of foreigners out there have been deceived and lost their hard earn money to these fraudsters after promising them percentages in their letters/e-mails for their impending help to move funds out Africa including fake lottery winning notification and at the end of the day, they will collect thousands of dollars from them without a successful end. It was agreed that to retain the good image of Nigeria and the rest of Africa countries, all the victims who lost his/her hard earn money to these faceless thieves will be compensated with just US$800,000.00 United States Dollars only). This we assume will help you to start a new life Please, you have to accept the money like that because the people (victims) in our pay list are too much. We are paying back from the money we recovered from these fraudsters so you are to contact as stated below for your own compensation money. To that effect,we are sending you this e-mail because your contact details were given to us as one of the victims. Since the British Interpol and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have stepped into this matter, be rest assured that you are safe as it is our duty to protect and serve the citizens of United Kingdom and United States of America in particular and the rest of the world in general. As soon as we receive the above required information from you, we will submit it immediately and instruct them to proceed with the Processing/Releasing of your Compensation Fund to you within 2- 3 working days based on our agreement. (1) Your Full Name: (2) Address: (3) Your Direct Phone Number: (4) Copy of your Passport Photograph: (5) Occupation: (6)Banking Details We are aware that these fraudsters has broken a lot of home(s), made a lot of people lose their job, sell their properties, closed their business, put many on the street, and made a lot to even lose their life. We are very sorry. We await your urgent response. Best Regards, Mrs.Sophia Hiton

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