Protect Yourself and Report the Latest Frauds, Scams, Spams, Fakes, Identify Theft Hacks and Hoaxes
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The Advance Fee Fraud (AFF) email is also known as "419" after the section of the Nigerian penal law that deals with this type of fraud. It takes many forms, from the typical "Barrister" who represents a bank from a "deceased" businessman or government official to requests for a "local company representative in your country" to "receive payments" to fake grants and wealthy religious widows who just "need your help, in Jesus' name"
Below are links to our pages with many, many actual examples of these fake business scams from Nigeria. A rule of thumb: "It if is from Nigeria, it MUST be a scam" . Nigeria ought to use a new slogan for their tourist office: "Nigeria: Land of Scams, Thieves and Scumbags - Don't come, just let us steal your money!" But now there are plenty originating in the Far East and other areas.
Let's look at some actual emails people received and see how we can spot that they are scams. In general, notice the awesome amount of misspellings, poor grammar and run-on sentences. Even if they weren't scams, would you go into business with someone who writes like that?
See this page for a detail explanation of how the scams work, step-by-step!
U.S. Secret ServicePhone: (202) 435-5850 Fax: (202) 435-5031 Or contact the local U.S. Secret Service Field Office.
Financial Crimes Division
1800 G Street, NW
Room 942
Washington, DC 20223
Contact the Foreign Commercial Service (FSC) at the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. If there is no FCS office, contact the American Citizens Services Unit of the Consular Section or the Regional Security Office.
For a comprehensive list of national and international agencies to report scams, see this page.
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Names used by scammers in the examples on this
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