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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: "Sgt. David Haliday" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sgt.halidaysdavid@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2012 08:35:19 -0400
Subject: Hello

Hi ,


I am a Sergent of the US Army serving the World and my country in the most honorable way i know i can, in Afghanistan right now with a very desperate need for your assistance.

Some time ago a lot of money in various currencies were discovered in some barrels during my service in Bahgdad Iraq during a rescue operation, i happened to be one of the soldiers that lead that operation that day, and as the first person to discover the money i kept Twelve Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars(US$ 12,500 Million) out of the money for myself before informing the rest of the troop, this was quite an illegal thing to do, but I tell you what? No compensation can make up for the risk we have taken with our lives in this hell hole, my best friend was killed by a road side bomb just few months ago and i cannot count how many times GOD has saved my life down here. I would like you to read the below article so you can confirm what i am saying.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm


Now i found a very reliable way of shipping a trunk mettallic box containing the amount of United States Dollars worth Twelve Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars(US$ 12,500 Million) and with this opportunity all i need is just someone capable to handle this and keep the box safe till i am able to meet you in person, if you can assure me of your capability i will go ahead and ship the box to you for safe keeping till i am back home and i will gladly give you what you want from the money.

If this is okay with you please get back to me with the following so i can get the box shipped to you.


1. Your full name
2. Your full address
3. Your telephone number.

Waiting to hear from you.

Yours in Service.

Anti-fraud resources: