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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: emilyspencer@gmail.com
Reply-To: emilyspencer@foxmail.com
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2014 14:44:51 +0000
Subject: business proposal

Hello,
I will be brief here and hope to hear from you soon. I am Sgt. Emily Spencer of the United States Army on Active Duty and based in Camp Red Cloud. I'm stationed in Uijeongbu, South Korea to keep peace around the Korean Peninsula. I have a business proposal of mutual benefit for you and it is 100% safe. I will be glad to discuss more of this in my next message, if you are interested Email me ( ladyspencer@foxmail.com ) My Identification will also be sent in due course. Thank you for your time.

Regards,
E. Spencer

Anti-fraud resources: