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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: "alfred michael" (may be fake)
Reply-To: < alfredmichaelesq@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:10:13 +0200
Subject: RE----------10/08/2010



Attn: Dear Friend,

I am Alfred Michael an attorney at law to the late Mr. Seymour, who died in a car crash with his family here in Lagos on august 21 2001.He left behind a deposit of ($7.41m usd) here in a Finance Security Company and I hereby seek your consent to present you as the next of kin since you have the same last name and I have the documents that would confer you the legal right for the claim. Please get in touch with me via my numbers below or by my alternative email alfredmichaelesq@yahoo.co.jp and send to me your telephone and fax numbers to enable us discuss further on this transaction which will be done legally and risk free.
Best Regards,

Alfred Michael(Esq.)
+234-80-985-056-76


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