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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: ezejohn@inmail.sk
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:59:16 -0800
Subject: Re: Dear Friend


Dear Friend,
Greetings!Do accept my apologies if my mail does not meet your personal
ethics, I want to introduce myself and this business opportunity to you.My
name is John Eze, a bank accountant.
I wish to know if we can work together.I would like you to stand as the next
of kin to my deceased client who made some deposits to my bank. He died
without any registered next of kin and as such the funds now have an open
beneficiary mandate.Fortunately both of you have the same last name so it
will be very easy to make you become his ficial next of kin. If you are
interested you do let me know so that I can give you comprehensive details
on what we are to do.I urgently hope to get your response as soon as
possible
Regards,
John Eze

Anti-fraud resources: