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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: Mother Esther Charity works <silvio.bruna@alice.it>
Reply-To: williamscord12@live.com
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2015 14:26:39 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Your approval is needed...

You are now a proud benefactor of the Mother Esther Charity fund of
2,500,000.00 usd released for claim. The EcoBank ATM card was deposited by
Mother Esther board of trustee to compensate you as part of their charity work
supporting the less privileged and patients worldwide.

Your name, home address, city and state, country, occupation, phone number is
needed along with a copy of id card for identification.

Your reply is needed now

Williams Cord
fund remittance Officer
Ecobank plc

Anti-fraud resources: