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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: "laurie zaleski" <zaleskilaurie1@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 5 Jul 2008 23:24:43 +0400
Subject: reply


Hi,

Permit me to inform you of my desire of going into business
relationship with you. And let me start by para-phrasing the content
of this message to your understanding, I work with Blackwater USA, a
US Security Contractor in Iraq that provides security protection for
American diplomats.

Two months ago my team carried out a raid in a Shiite militia
stronghold south of Baghdad,Iranian-made weapons were among a large
cache of arms and ammunition found during the operations and amount
totaling US$35 Million in cash believed intended for use to purchase
more arms or to finance the militia activities to frustrate US
rebuilding of Iraq goals.

3 of the Senior officers in my team which includes me, have agreed
and decided to keep this amount to ourself, reason why i have contacted
you to assist us transfer this amount out of Iraq, and after our time
in Iraq in some months time, we shall come for the sharing of the
money.

We are willing to offer you the sum of US$3.5M (10% of the total sum)
if you could assist us, we hope to hear from you soon in this regard.

Laurie Zaleski
Blackwater USA LLC
Baghdad, Iraq

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