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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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Fraud email example:

From: "ifeoma princess" <ifeomaprincess@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 22:19:47 +0100
Subject: URGENT ATTENTION

Dear Sir,
I have a proposal for you - this however is not mandatory nor will I in any
manner compel you to honor against your will. I have to introduce myself first; my name is Mrs Ifeoma Princess banker working with one of the leading banks in West Africa. In this
bank existed a dormant account for the past 8 years, which belong to a Syria national who is now late. When we discovered that there had been no deposits nor withdrawals
from this account for this long period, I and my two other colleagues decided to carry out a system investigation and discovered that non of the family member nor relations of the late Syrian is aware of this account. This is the story in a nutshell. Now we want an account overseas where we can transfer these funds. Thereafter, we had planned to destroy all related
documents for this account. It is a careful network and for the past eleven months we have
worked out everything to ensure a hitch-free operation.The amount is not so much at the moment and plus all the accumulated interest the balance in this account stands at US$52
million US dollars. Now our questions are: - 1.Can you handle this project?
2.Can we give you this trust? 3.What will be your commission?
Consider this and get back at us as soon as possible. Finally, it is our humble prayer that the information as contained here in is accorded the necessary attention, urgency as well as the secrecy it deserves. I hope my mail did not come as an embarrassment to you, but if it does
please kindly accept my apologies. Thanks in anticipation.
Respectfully yours,
Mrs. Ifeoma Princess
(Ghana West Africa)


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