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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: Habib Aiman <ha_aiman49@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <u_ekat3@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 22:06:01 +0000
Subject: Urgent Please.



Attn Please:Good Day,My name is Obong Ufot Ekaette, Secretary to the government of the federation of Nigeria from 1999 till 29th May, 2007. I got your contact from a very reliable source in your country. Due to the secret nature of what I wanted to transact in your countryand it has to do with the shipping/freight industry, I asked this source through my aide to recommend a good and influential business person who can handle such business. After two weeks, he reverted to me with your contact information.The objective of my writing you this private letter is to first verify from you if you can handle a very private business and to reconfirm if you can keep secret. You may not be aware that our government just handed over power on May 29 this year. While most officials are being investigated, we are barred from travelling abroad and I am trying to tidy up a very important big transaction before any agency will close in on it. Please respond to this letter as a matter of priority. You are free to raise any concern if you have one.Finally, you can note that I did not include any of my contact. I am being very careful bearing in mind that I am a highly political exposed person and can not risk a scandal. I will give them out to you when I hear from you positively I can assure.Thank youObong Ufot Ekaette
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