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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: "Mr Thomas Harrison" <tho_harrison@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: tho_harrison1@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 2 Jul 2005 14:14:23 +0100
Subject: Thomas Harrison

Hello,
PARTNERSHIP AND INVESTMENT.
We humbly wish to introduce ourselves as the All People Revolution United Front of Mali(APRUF)
We are please to write you concerning our new arrangement to turn the aforementioned organisation into a full registered political party in Mali. In respect to this we wish to inform you that the organisation has about 7000 kg (7tones) of gold in stock and 285,513 carat of Rough diamonds. We want a reliable person or company that will assist the organisation in the marketing of the goods.
We also have mining fields in different areas in our country for gold and Diamond. We will be happy if you have connection for modern mining equipments and facilities Our organisation shall give you a total of 10% of any gold or diamond sold by you. Please indicate your interest and more information’s shall be given to you as soon as possible for security reasons we demand that you contact us through this medium.
We strongly believe enough facts are give for you to access our status.
Best regards,
Mr. Thomas Harrison (for the org.)
Alternative address,
tho_harrison@usa.com <mailto:tho_harrison@usa.com>




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