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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: deniscoleman21@tiscali.co.uk
Reply-To: denis_coleman12@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 00:00:12 +0100
Subject: Reply Urgently

My Dear Friend,

Greetings:

I would want to introduce myself and this business
opportunity to you,
My name is Denis Coleman I work as an accountant
in a bank,
I would want to know if we can work together.
I would like you to stand as the next of kin to my
deceased client who made some deposits
to my bank.

He died without any registered next of kin and as such
the funds now have an open beneficiary mandate.
Moreover it appears you are related to him by the
similarities in your last names.

If you are interested in working with me, please get
back to me as quickly as possible so that I give you
the details of what we are to do.

Thanks for your co-operation.

Best regards,
Denis Coleman.

___________________________________________________________

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