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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: "DR WILLIAM SMITH" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <dhldirector.office@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2010 20:56:16 +0100
Subject: CONTACT D.H.L COURIER DIRECTOR

This is the good news for you about your long awaited fund,the fund $4.2 million us dollar was deposted
yesterday by 2:45 p.m at D.H.L COURIER COMPANY,this was after the agreement was reached with the
issued bank to release the fund in cash, the depositor's is mr william smith,the cash was packaged in a
small box and the registration number is xqd7819-sc,therefore contact the courier company by reconfirming
your right info to them. such as your name,your personel phone number,and your house address,the courier
contact person is mr lewis kennedy as the director incharge of delivering unit
E-maill address....(drlewisknd@excite.co.uk)
Office mail...(dhldirectoroffice@excite.co.uk)
Phone number................(+229-9752-9512)
Note this- all the delivery charges has been paid, the only money you will send to them is daily security
keeping fee of $34.00 per day.
good luck
regard william smith

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