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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: "Miss Hanna Gaddafi" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <misshannag@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 2013 07:31:31 -0700
Subject: Hello Dear,

Hello Dear,

My Name is Miss Hanna Gaddafi,an adopted daughter of Late Muammar Gaddafi,former president of Libya who died on October 20, 2011 http://www.nowpublic.com/world/how-many-kids-did-gaddafi-have-list-children-dead-or-alive-2850298.html I hope you will not find my message offensive since we have not met before and coupled with lots of internet scams going on these days on the internet.

Due to the critical situation I found myself in Libya, I have managed to sneak into Accra-Ghana as the new government is looking out for all our family members for prosecution or be killed as they killed my father. Am looking for an honest/trusted person to whom i shall hand over deposits my late father deposited on my behalf to be used when am matured enough to handle such enormous treasures (funds including gold and diamonds)if you are the honest/trusted person,kindly get back to me so i can furnish you with the contact information of our family lawyer for the process to kick off immediately as this letter need an urgent attention because the new government is searching for the hidden treasures of my late father therefore treat this as highly confidential and urgent.Waiting to hear from you.

Miss Hanna Gaddafi

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