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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: "Esther Richard."<estherrichard2009@sbcglobal.net>
Reply-To: <moneygramoffice@aol.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:24:00 +0100
Subject: I Have Sent You The Money...

Good day,

I was instructed by my boss to send you the MoneyGram informations for you to be able to collect part of the money that was supposed to be transferred to your account.

Senders Names: Esther Richard.
Senders Country: Block C4 Federal Ministry Of Finance Road Lagos State Nigeria.
Reference Numbers: #65587802
Amount Sent: $1520 USD.
Text Question: color
Text Answer: green

Senders Names: Esther Richard.
Senders Country: Block C4 Federal Ministry Of Finance Road Lagos State Nigeria.
Reference Numbers: #73456707
Amount Sent: $2540 USD.
Text Question: color
Text Answer: green

Senders Names: Esther Richard.
Senders Country: Block C4 Federal Ministry Of Finance Road Lagos State Nigeria.
Reference Numbers: #86509011
Amount Sent: $3930 USD.
Text Question: color
Text Answer: green

I am out of town and I will not be back until 13th of Feb 2010 Just go to the MoneyGram Office and collect the money and incase you have any problem kindly contact the MoneyGram agent at the e-mail below for help. moneygramoffice@aol.com or you can call these numbers for help: +243-7032233870

Note I will not be able to respond to your email, if you have any problem contact the MoneyGram agent via the information above.

Thanks,
Esther Richard.

Anti-fraud resources: