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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: "micheal taylor" <m_taylor777@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: michealtaylor@worldemail.com
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 05:33:36 -0600
Subject: FROM THE DESK OF MICHEAL TAYLOR

FROM THE DESK OF MICHEAL TAYLOR
Dear,
I KNOW THIS WILL COME TO YOU AS A SURPRISE BECAUSE YOU DO NOT KNOW ME I AM
MR MICHEAL TAYLOR, THE SON OF THE FORMER LIBERIA PRESIDENT MR. CHARLES
TAYLOR. I AND MY FAMILY IS ON EXILE . PLEASE, I WANT YOU TO HELP ME CLEAR
THIS PACKAGE THAT IS ALREADY IN AMERICA WHICH I SHIPPEDTHROUGH DIPLOMATIC
MEANS WITH THE HELP OF A DIPLOMAT BUT THE CONTENTS OF THE PACKAGE IS
$10,000,000.00 ALL IN $100.00 BILLS, BUT THE DIPLOMAT DOES NOT KNOW THAT IT
IS MONEY THAT I HAVE IN THE PACKAGE. ALL I WANT YOU TO DO FOR ME NOW IS
THIS,GIVE ME YOUR MAILING ADDRESS,AGE,PLACE OF WORK,YOUR PRIVATE PHONE
FAX,YOUR COMPANYS NAME WITH ADDRESS ANDPRIVATE PHONE NUMBER AND OTHER
MODALITIES WILL BE DISCUSSED AS SOON AS
YOUGET BACK TO ME . YOU CAN CONTACT ME VIA: +447031847681
EMAIL:michealtaylor@worldemail.com
YOURS FAITHFULLY,
MICHEAL TAYLOR.


Anti-fraud resources: