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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: "Western Union Management" <info@Western-online.com>
Reply-To: western.transfer79@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 11:19:48 -0300
Subject: Greetings from Wes=?ISO-8859-1?Q?tern_Union=AE_Money_?=Transfer!

Greetings from Western Union® Money Transfer Lagos, Nigeria.
This is to notify you that there is a fund tagged ($500,000USD)"Lottery
Winning Prize" deposited by a lottery fiduciary agent to be transferred to
the owner of this email address. For security reasons and to avoid
misappropriation of funds, proper verifications must be carried out before
the fund is transferred.
We require the details below to verify with the details given to us by the
depositor so that the transfer can be carried out.
Full Name:
Sex:
Transfer Address:
Telephone Number:
country:
occupation:
Age:
Send the above details to us via the email addresses stated below:
western.transfer79@yahoo.com.hk
As soon as these details are received and verified, the fund will be
transferred to you.
Best Regards,
- Customer service Department.
Copyright © 2001-2009 The Western Union Company. All Rights Reserved

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