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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: "Amy" <amy55@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: amyndiaye4u@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 00:16:01 +0100
Subject: How are you today ?

Dear Manager/director,

My name is Miss Amy Ndiaye, i am 23yrs old lady from Sierra leone,Africa.Please, i have contacted you because of the problem that i am having over claiming my inherited money from a financial institution.I have been asked to get a reliable foriegn partner who can help me and stand for me because i am here as a refugee and it is against the law for a refugee to do such a financial transaction that worths over 7 million dollars.Please, reply back to me if you are willing to help me and i will be glad to give you more details to contact the financial institution for the transaction.

thanks and God bless.
your's truly,

Miss Amy Ndiaye.


Anti-fraud resources: