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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 John Chan C C" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <john_chan5977@live.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2010 11:09:03 -0100
Subject: FUNDS INVESTIGATION

Hello,

There is an issue that came up which we would like to discuss with you my
self and my colleagues,that there is an over invoice payment made to our
company which involves some amount of money,so we have decided to involve
a third party who we can entrust this money on when we have been able to
pull it out from its destination to a designated account.I decided to put
it before you so you can assist with this situation.

We also found out that if the government finds out,the money will be
confiscated and transferred into banking treasury,to avoid this we have
made an arrangement for the movement of the funds due to the fact that we
can not transfer such money without the authorities not knowing,so all we
require from you is for you to help handle this situation and lay claims
on the consignment funds as all necessary arrangement has been made to
ensure that you collect the funds and move it to your home nominated
account where we will come for final disbursement.

You will be given 30% of the total funds when we see that there is a
success in this deal,the amount involved is $15.3million we will provide
you with the necessary information as soon as the funds arrive.Please note
that all necessary arrangement for the smooth release of these funds to
you has been finalized.

We will discuss much in details when I do receive your response.

Mr John Chan.

Anti-fraud resources: