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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: jim collins <jimcollins389@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:16:42 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: BUSINESS PROPOSAL


DEAR FRIEND,
I AM JIM COLLINS,PAYMENT CONTROLLER GENERAL OF NIGERIAN NATIONAL PETROLEM CO-OPERATION(NNPC)WE HAVE $12.5M OVER INVOICE MONEY AND WE ARE LOOKING FOR A RELIABLE PERSON WHOM WE WILL MOVE THE MONEY TO HIM OR HER FOR JOINT BUSINESS BETWEEN US AND HIM OR HER.
WE HAVE AGREED TO OFFER YOU 25% OF THE TOTAL MONEY WERE THE REMAINING 75% WILL BE HELD BY YOU BASED ON TRUST FOR GOOD AND PROFITABLE BUSINESS IN YOUR COUNTRY.
PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR FULL NAME,YOUR FULL ADDRESS AND YOUR PHONE NUMBER.
AWAITING TO HEAR FROM YOU.
JIM COLLINS
234-80-39248185
234-1-4764023
LAGOS NIGERIA

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