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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: "Dr. Pius Okagba UN" <motion.tech@alice.it>
Reply-To: okagbapius11@live.com
Date: Tue, 13 May 2014 23:54:05 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Payment Via ATM Card

I was eventually able to get the funds transferred with the assistance of a
friend from Cambodia where I have traveled to on investment mission as agreed
with the friend that assisted me and will be there for a long time.However,I
did not forget your efforts at assisting me and have dropped a VISA ATM
Cash/Debitcard with an e-card payment centre programmed with the sum
worth of $37M as compensation for your earlier assistance after several
attempts to contact you had failed.This is my last effort at reaching you and
if you are lucky to get this mail,please contact the payment centre with your
identification including your delivery address to enable immediate dispatch of
the card to you.The contact details: Mr.Frank Linbs,Regional Director,The Card
centre,phone:+229 98842246 and Email:(franklinb3@barid.com)
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Okagba Pius

Anti-fraud resources: