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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: gracejohn2451@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2011 02:08:43 GMT
Subject: Hello Dear friend

Dear friend
how are you doing? i hope you are fine ,please don,t be
suprise to receive my message, my name is grace. i came
accross your profile at through friends online websites i
decided to communicate with you, because i believe one can
find a very good caring, understanding and God fearing
person by all means in the world, i hope to hear from you so
that i can tell you more about my self with love and trust,
and as well give you my pics, please kindly write me back so
that we can know more about each other for further
conversation.
yours new friend
grace

Anti-fraud resources: