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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "WESTERN UNION" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <fileeo811@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2013 14:10:14 +0100
Subject: WESTERN UNION RETURNS


This office has made a progress in recovring every of your money lost.We the Western Union have decided to give you back every dime you have spent in trying to get your fund from those criminals in Africa.Finally we have retrive some of our money and we have sent them back to you and to your name.

Without wasting your time we have attached the payment slip and the MTCN of the amount sent back to you so that you can go to any Western Union outlet near you and make a withdrawal and as the investigation goes on,we would be sending you the balance you have spent.You should worry anymore for we will retrive every dime you have spent in the hands of scammers.Please download the attachement and go to any Western Union outlet near you and make a withdrawal.

Congratulations

Attached is payment information.

Anti-fraud resources: