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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: lizybaby4u_86@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:33:40 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Hello


Hey dear,=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=20
=A0 =A0 =A0 How're you doing, hope you're kool? My name is Elizabeth and I'=
m from the Florida USA. Here just looking for better friendship and penpals=
both women and men to share interest and lot more with. I love discussing =
all issues and learning other people's cultures and languages. Hope to get =
more good and lasting friends outside my state. Friends re like cloths, if =
you don't have them Ur life remains naked. Can we be friends? Respond only =
if you know the real meaning of friendship. Fake friends don't reply coz I =
won't waste my precious time with jokers, I only need good and genuine frie=
nds with fair intentions. I wanna tell you more about myself when I receive=
s ur reply; tell me about urself and where you come from, plz excuse me if =
I erred=A0 by contacting you in this mail, you can forward my message to an=
y of ur preferred mailbox and reply via it for easier correspondence. Have =
a nice day and God bless.=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =
=A0 =A0=A0=A0
With love and care,=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0=20
Liz=A0=A0=0A=0A=0A

Anti-fraud resources: