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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

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

Fraud email example:

From: "tomjimartworks01" <tomjimartworks01@terra.com.mx>
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 08:55:50 -0600
Subject: PART TIME JOB OFFER PLEASE GET BACK TO ME


Hello,
My name is Tom Jim and I am an artist. I live in England, with my two
kids, one dog and the love of my life. It is definitely a full house. I
have been doing artwork since I was a small child when I was in Canada
where I took interest in arts that gives me about 23 years of
experience. I majored in art in high school and took a few college art courses. Most of my work is done in either pencil or airbrush mixed with color pencils.
I have recently added designing and creating artwork on the computer. I
have been selling my art for the last 4 to 5 years and have had my work
featured on trading cards, prints and in magazines. I have sold in
galleries, museums and to private collectors from all around the world. I
am always facing serious difficulties when it comes to selling my art
works to Americans, they are always offering to pay with a US POSTAL
MONEY ORDER, which is difficult for me to cash here in England.
I am looking for a representative in the states who will be working for
me as a par time worker and I am willing to pay for every transaction,
which wouldn't affect your present state of work, someone who would
help me receive payments from my customers in the states. I mean someone
that is responsible and reliable, cause the cost of coming to the state
and getting payments is very expensive, I am working on setting up a
branch in the state, so for now I need a representative in the united
state who will be handling the payment aspect.
These payments are in money order and they would come to you in your name, so all you need to do is cash the money order deduct your
percentage and wire the rest back.But the problem I have is trust, But I have my way of getting anyone that gets away with our money, I mean the FBI branch in Washington gets involve. It wouldn’t cost u any amount are to receive payments which will be sent to u by FEDEX or USPS from my business partners, which would come in form of a money order then u are to cash it and send the cash to me via western union money transfer all western union charges will be deducted from the money. If you are interested, please get back to me as soon as possible with this following information’s.
FIRST NAME………………………… LAST NAME………………………………
ADDRESS……………………………………………………………………………..
CITY…………………………………….. STATE…………………………………..
ZIP CODE……………………………….. COUNTRY……………………………...
PHONE NUMBER (S) ………………………………………
………………………………………
GENDER…………………………….. MARITAL STATUS……………………..
AGE………………………………….. NATIONALITY………………………….
ID NUMBER………………………….
Regards
Tom Jim

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