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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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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "brendan mcnutt" <brenmcnutt@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2006 18:36:52 +0000
Subject:

This is a possible scam...I copied and pasted it Yahoo.


 

Dearest,
 
 I thank you for getting in touch with me, i hope you are doing nice today, i am so happy to see your reply to me my dear.
 
My day  is a little bit fine in Dakar Senegal.The camp is like prison and i hope by Gods grace i will come out here soon.I want you to know that age is just a number,what matters is love and affection.
 
I don't have any relatives now whom i can go to,The only person i have now is Rev.james oscar who is the pastor of the (Christ for all Churches) here in the camp he has been very nice to me since i came here but i am not living with him rather i am leaving in the women's hostel because the camp have two hostels one for men the other for women.
 
The Pastors Tel number is (+221-486 45 81) if you call and tell him that you want to speak with me he will send for me in the hostel.As a refugee here i don't have any right or privilege to any thing be it money or whatever because it is against the law of this country.I want to go back to my studies because i only attended my first year before the tragic incident that lead to my being in this situation now took place.
 
Honey,please i would like you to know that i have my late father's deposit  certificate here with me which i will like to send to you to assist me, because when he was alive he deposited a consignment truck box with a security firm in Senegal here which he used my name as the next of kin. The consignment truck box contains $3.5(Three Million Five Hundred Thousand US Dollars).
 
So i will like you to assist  me transfer this consignment truck box to your destination and from it you can send some money for me to get my traveling documents and air ticket to come over to meet with you.
 
I have got in touch with this security firm in mail and made them to know about my plan of withdraw this consignment truck box,i also got them aware of the death of my father and they have acknowledged it with all there confirmation.
 
However, they advise me to get in touch with a very responsible person who will stand on my behalf and my trustee as regards to this consignment truck box since i am presently of refugee status over here and wouldn't be permitted to handle this transaction.
 
I just have to let you know about this so that you can assist me to be my trustee  on this consignment; i have made up all my mind to leave here , i have had several sorrowful and ugly life experiences over here and i wouldn't like to continue with this unsafe environment.
 
I want to join you soon if you wouldn't mind.However i kept this secret to people in the camp here,the only person that knows about it is the Reverend because he is like a father to me.
 
So in the light of above i will like you to keep it to  yourself and don't tell it to anyone for i am afraid of loosing my life and the money if people gets to know about it.Remember i am giving you all this information due to the trust i deposed on you.
 
I like honest and understanding ,honest and truthful and a man of vision. Meanwhile i will like you to call me like i said i have alot to tell you.
 
Have a nice day and think about me.
Yours in love,
Rebecca


Brendan

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