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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: "William Balden" <smith_partners@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2006 21:22:08 +0200
Subject: Re:Fwd: My Passport

Dear Mr. Valdemar,

I am assuring you that this transaction is legal.

You have the copy of my international passport as a proof of the legitimacy
of the whole process. You can hold me responsible if anything goes wrong,
but I am promising you that nothing will ever go wrong.

I am only discharging my functions and you should trust me as your lawyer
not to let you down.

Thanks.

Yours Faithfully,

William Smith Balden (Esq)






Thanks for the reply.

I am still still unsettled.

Confirm to me please: can you verify that your proposal is really
legal?

Can you kindly reply? I look forward to reading something helpful from
you.

Valdemar

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