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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: Miss_Mary_Zaya5@ecunet.org (may be fake)
Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2010 18:44:49 -0500
Subject: Hello Dear,

Dear friend
how are you doing? i hope you are fine,my name is Mary ,please don,t be
suprise to receive my message, i come across your profile on this online
friends site so i decided to comunicate with hope to have a good
relationship with you. i am good caring person,understanding and God
fearing,i hope to hear from you so that i will tell you more about my self
and as well send you my pictures.
take care of yourself, until i hear from you
yours new friend.
Mary

Anti-fraud resources: