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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: "Andrew lestrange" <andrewlestrange@googlemail.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:40:00 -0700
Subject: REPLY TO ME


Dear Friend,

I am Mr ANDREW,a senior staff in a reputable bank in UK and the account
Officer to a foreign Client Mr. Andrea Schranner,who had made several secret
(fixed) Deposits for twelve calendar months, valued at $9.2m, (Nine
Million,Two Hundred Thousand Dollars) in a domicilary coded account with our
Bank here in london.He died in a plane crash years ago during his visit to
United State of America (U.S.A)with his family.

The money will be written off if nobody comes to claim it in the next 60
days.As
it stands now he has no next of kin.Since I have all the documents available
as his
Accounts Officer,I decided to solicite your assistance to stand as the next
of kin so
that the money will be transferred to you.Then we disburse accordingly.

Please get back to me through my confidential email for more clarification;
EMAIL: andrewlestrange@accountant.com

I await your quick reply.

Regards,
Andrew.

Anti-fraud resources: