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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: info@mail.com
Reply-To: drpaulmirza@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 18:06:15 +0100
Subject: BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP


Dearest friend, My Name is Dr. Paul Mirza , North West London , here in Eng=
land. I work for Yorkshire Bank Plc London. I am writing following an oppor=
tunity in my office that will be of an immense benefit to both of us. In my=
department we discovered an abandoned sum of 20 million British pounds (20=
million British Pounds) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign c=
ustomers Late Mr Robert McDowell Brown an American who unfortunately lost h=
is life in the plane crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 which crashed on J=
anuary 31 2000, including his wife and only daughter. You shall read more a=
bout the crash on visiting this site. (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP=
TS/0002/01/bn.02.html) The choice of contacting you is aroused from the geo=
graphical nature of where you live, particularly due to the sensitivity of =
the transaction. And the confidentiality herein. Now our bank has been wait=
ing for any of the relatives to come-up for the claim but nobody has done t=
hat. I personally have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for 8 ye=
ars now, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin / Will Benef=
iciary to the deceased so that the proceeds of this account valued at 20 mi=
llion British pounds can be paid to you. This will be disbursed or shared i=
n these percentages, 50% for me and 40% to you.while 10% will be for all co=
sts of the transaction All I require now is your honest Co-operation, Confi=
dentiality and Trust to enable us sees this transaction through. I guarante=
e you that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will p=
rotect you from any breach of the law. Please, provide me the following: as=
we have 7 days to run it through. This is very very URGENT PLEASE. Kindly =
send the details below 1. Full Name 2. You=92re Telephone Number 3. You=92r=
e Contact Address. 4. You're Occupation. 5. You're Age. Your urgent respons=
e will be highly anticipated and appreciated, Best regards, Dr.Paul Mirza

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