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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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Fraud email example:

From: "Dr. Henry Seely" <henry@box.az> (may be fake)
Reply-To: henry_seely@box.az
Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2005 13:09:59 +0000
Subject: Your Quick Respone

Attn: Dear,

I am Henry Seely, before anything i ask if you can
be trusted, because one of my late friend deposited
the sum of US$7,000,000.00 in a Finance firm
in Europel, and i Called the Finance firm in order to be
sure if the said fund is still There, and the
Finance firm has assured me not to be worried about anything
that all i needed is to forward to them my full banking
information where the said fund will be transferred to,
and i told them that my Late friend did a contract in your
country with you, that before his death, he wrote a well
that the sum of US$7,000,000.00 should be transferred into
your account.
Furthermore, all i needed from you is truth and
honest, because i don’t want any delay in this
transaction, so as soon as you read my mail, do not
fail to reply me with your direct telephone and fax
number together with your full banking information so
it will enable me to forward it to the Finance firm for them
to notify you for onward transfer of the fund, for
your information, the sum of 30% will be for you, why
the balance 70% will be for me after the transferring
of the fund to your nominated Bank account.
Finally, i will be looking forward to read from you,
and please do not fail to reply on time, so the fund
can be transferred to you before the ending of this
week.
Thanks and God bless.
Yours Henry Seely.
henry_seely@box.az



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