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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: "zac tanco" <tancozz@msn.com>
Reply-To: zactanco@omnimail.sm
Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 15:54:08 +0000
Subject: good day

Peace of The Lord Be with You

In my search for a reliable and God fearing
person and having gotten your contact through prayers
and painstaking efforts I have decided to seek your
help in carrying out my last wish. My name is zac tanco.
I'm a 65 years old man and a Western Saharan.I am
presently in Republic of Western Sahara. I was a
merchant and owned two businesses in Dubai, the United
Arab Emirates. I was also married with two children.
My wife and two children died in a car accident six
years ago.
Before this happened my business and concern for
making money was all I lived for. I never really cared
about other values in life. But since the loss of my
family, I have found a new desire to assist helpless
families. I have been helping orphans in orphanage/
motherless homes. I have also donated some money for
humanitarian needs in some Asian countries. Only
recently, I saw on television the colossal loss of
properties and livelihood of people in Canberra,
Australia through Water flood. I was moved with great
pity and compassion that I decided to make a
contribution on assisting people over there.
Before I became ill, I kept $18,000,000 Million in a
long-term deposit account in a finance company in
Europe.
Presently, I'm in an hospital where I have been
undergoing treatment for oesophageal cancer. I have
since lost my ability to talk and my doctors have told
me that I have only a few months to live. It is my last
wish to see this money distributed to needy and other
charity organizations. Because relatives and friends
have plundered so much of my wealth since my illness,
I cannot live with the agony of entrusting this huge
responsibility to any of them.
Please, I beg you in the name of God to help me
collect the deposit and the interest accrued from the
finance company based in Europe and distribute it
accordingly. Use your judgement to distribute the
money and keep 10% of it to yourself.
Feel free to reimburse yourself when you have the
money for any cost you incur during the process of
collecting and distributing the money. If you are
willing to help, please reply as soon as you can.

Endeavor to send me your full contact details like
your name, address, telephone and fax number so that I
can refer you the security company where the funds is
lodged.
PLEASE, I BEG YOU IN THE NAME OF God TO HELP ME
RETRIEVE THE FUNDS FROM THE FINANCE COMPANY. AFTER
COLLECTING THE MONEY FROM THE FINANCE COMPANY. YOU
WILL NOW HELP ME TO TAKE THE MONEY TO ORHANPANGE HOMES
IN AFRICA OR ANY ORPHANANAGE HOME CLOSE TO YOU IN MY NAME.
May God Bless you and your family.
Regards,
zac tanco


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