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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: "Michael Buckley" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <info@mercantilesafedepositandtrust.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 12:18:43 -0800
Subject: Re: Hello

Good day,

I am the Operations Manager with a Safe Deposit and security company here in New York, United States,
I am contacting you regarding to a business deal, there was a (Consignment) that was deposited with my
company in 2006 by one African Elite, in a safe deposit box. The deal is this, the consignment contains a
total amount of(US$6.5M) tagged as family valuables, all means to contact the depositor using the contact
details he left with us has proved abortive.

If the consignment is not been claim within a short period from now the funds will be sent to the government
treasury for circulation or been confiscated.therefore being that you are from Africa, I can arrange that you
are the beneficiary of Next of Kin to the depositor without any hindrance and risk involved.

I am willing to give you a reasonable percentage of the total sum, while I intend to invest rest part of into
any lucrative venture in your country after the successful transfer of the consignment/fund to you.

Please get back to me ASAP on receipt of this email so we can discuss more on the above stated.

Regards,

Michael Buckley.

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