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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: "Chio Hung" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <chio1hung@rediffmail.com>
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:39:05 +0100
Subject: Hello

Hello,
I am Chio Hung attorney to my late client,who died in a car crash in London with family on November 5th 2001.
He left a deposit of 9.8million pounds in a bank in U.K.
I need your consent to present you as the next of kin to his estate since you are a foreigner.
I have documents that would confer you the legal right to make claim.Kindly send
me your telephone number so we can discuss further on this transaction.
Get back to me as soon as possible for absolute confidentiality.
Tel:+447553842924
Regards,
Chio Hung

Anti-fraud resources: