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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: "Mr. Tsai-Yuan Lin" <tsai-yuan-lin@live.com>
Date: Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:20:12 +0300
Subject: Goodday!!!

Dear Friend,
It is my pleasure to contact you with all due respect as to discuss
this transaction with you; I am Mr. Tsai-Yuan Lin, Director of
Operations
and Head Wealth Management Division of Taiwan Business Bank (TBB)
Taipei, Taiwan. I have a business proposal of about $18M USD for you
from my bank.
Should you be interested in working with me on this, do indicate your
interest by sending me your contact details.
I would prefer you reach me via my personal email address:

Email: mr.tsaiyuanlin@gmail.com

Once I hear from you, I immediately will furnish you with further
details and information on logistics of having these funds moved.

Sincerely,
Mr. Tsai-Yuan Lin


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