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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: "Ibrahm Isa Abubakar" <isa_abuka@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: ibraisa_abuka@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 06:37:48 +0000
Subject: Waiting to hear from you

I am Ibrahim Isa Abubakar, a Sierra Leonia by Nationality. Presently I am
residing in a neighboring country, Nigeria on exile. After the war that
ravaged my country for couple of years, most of us who worked with the
military were under very tight scrutiny and constant oppression; I have to
flee to Nigeria for safety. I have certain amount of money to the tune of
$5M (Five million United States Dollars); presently deposited with a
security and finance company with their offshore office, details will be
given to you.

I intend to use you as the beneficiary to carry out these funds from the
security company and I wish to invest the funds in a related area of my
interest which is acquisition of real estate/buying franchise of products
made in your country, which will be exported to popular African markets that
Commands large demand of such products.

This will be done on your personal advice. Therefore if you indicate
interest to fashion me with investment advice, I will be glad to receive
your Kind response for further explanation regarding my request.

As soon as I receive your indication to assist me, I Will inform you with
necessary modalities of how to Proceed and instruct the security company to
send the Funds to you as the beneficiary.

Best regards,

Ibrahim Isa Abubakar


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