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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: claimsagentsmith@netscape.net
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 03:22:43 -0400
Subject: URGENT

Congratulations Paulina Fox,

I am in receipt of your mail and all your points were duely noted.We have not received any Payment and we always advise our Winners that as soon as you make any payment,you update us with a scanned copy of the payment slip.I will advise you to do just that and secondly,i will try to give you a call but please inform us when it will be ideal for you.

I await your swift response.Thank you and have a nice day.

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