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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: "Deputy Director" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <paul.m.abbate@daum.net>
Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2022 07:40:14 -0800
Subject: Re: Email From The Federal Bureau of Investigation

                                                        Federal Bureau of Investigation
                                       Field Intelligence Groups The J. Edgar Hoover Building
                                  935 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, DC 20535
 
 
Attention: Beneficiary,
 
We sincerely apologize for sending you this sensitive information via e-mail instead of certified mail, postal mail, phone, or face-to-face conversation. It is due to the urgency and importance of our citizens' security information. I am the deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Paul M. Abbate. We intercepted and seized two consignment boxes at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, NY 11430, coming from a foreign I checked the content of the two consignment boxes and found they contained the sum of $4.1 million in certified payment bonds. Also, the two consignment boxes had documents with your name on them as the receiver of the package. After questioning the diplomat that accompanied the two consignment boxes into the United States, we learned that he was to deliver these two consignment boxes to your residence as an inheritance or prize payment due to you.
 
We confiscated the two consignment boxes and released the diplomat. The two consignment boxes do not have a PROOF OF OWNERSHIP CERTIFICATE AND A LEGAL DELIVERY PERMIT CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE, according to Section 229, Subsection 31 of the International Commerce Regulators Code Enforcement Guidelines. You must respond for instructions on how to obtain the two consignment boxes and be released from the charge of tax evasion, which is a jail-able offense under Section 12 Subsection 441 of the tax code because the content is valued financial material of such an amount by the FBI and Homeland Security joint team. We will also be asking the IRS to launch an investigation into money laundering if you do not follow our instructions.
 
You are required to reply within 72 hours. I will then walk you through the procedure for clearing and claiming the funds at that point. Failure to comply may lead to your arrest, interrogation, or being prosecuted in a court of law for tax evasion and/or money laundering. You are also instructed to desist from further contact with any bank(s) or person(s) here in the United States, the United Kingdom, or any other part of the world regarding your fund because your payment has been confiscated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
 
Yours in Service,
Paul M. Abbate
The Deputy Director of the FBI

Anti-fraud resources: