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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: Account Upgrading Department <accountupgradingdept@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:33:08 -0600
Subject: Dear telfort.nl E-mail owners



Dear telfort.nl E-mail owners,
This message is from telfort.nl messaging center to all our email accountowners. We are currently upgrading our database and e-mail center due toan unusual activities identified in our email system. We are de-activatingall unused telfort.nl accounts to create space for new accounts. To preventyour account from being de-activated, you will have to verify your webmailaccount by confirming your Webmail identity So that we will know that it'spresently a used account. We have been sending this notice to all ouremail account owners and this is the last notice/verification exercise.
CONFIRM YOUR EMAIL IDENTITY BELOWLast Name: ...........Username: .......... .Password : ...........
YOU ARE REQUIRED TO SEND THESE DETAILS TO THE UPDATE TEAM BY SIMPLYREPLYING TO THIS EMAIL WITH THE REQUESTED DETAILS.
Warning!!! Account owners who fails to update his or her account onreceiving this notice might loose his or her account.
Thank you for using telfort.nlWarning Code:VX2G99AAJ.telfort.nl
Thank you."telfort.nl TEAM"
_________________________________________________________________
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Anti-fraud resources: