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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: courtneyb@live.com.my
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:47:55 +0800
Subject: INVESTMENT FUND


Attn: Please

I am pleased to solicit your sincere and urgent assistance over this
matter, My name is Courtney Bailey . I am arranging to come over to your
country with some large sum of money which i planned to invest with your
100% assistance. However, I do not know any investor in your country who I
may trust to handle the business for me as I am a foreigner and will likely
travel back to my country as soon as formal agreement is signed and the
funds invested in a viable business of your choice.Secondly, I want to know
what is required to bring in a large amount of money to your country , I
have a reliable contact that can guarantee safety delivery to your place.
Could you please indicate your interest to work with me for this purpose? I
want you to let me know the business you planned to invest the funds and
what i should be expecting for the period of 5 years. I am prepared to give
you 5% of the total sum before investment and 30% of the profit realised for
5 years. I will inform my attorney to prepare a memorandum of understanding
which we should sign on my arrival.I am in need of your response to this
arrangement to enable me find out the situation regarding the amount someone
can bring into the country although i dont think it is going to be a problem
because of my contacts. Please get back to me as soon as possible through my
private email address:courtney.b@live.com.my<address%3Acourtney.b@live.com.my>or
courtneybb@live.com for us to discuss further.
Respectfully,
Courtney Bailey.

Anti-fraud resources: