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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: "keith Franklin Mercer" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <keithfranklin_mercer02@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:39:14 +0100
Subject: Attention beneficiary,

Attention beneficiary,

I have a profitable and classified monetary transaction, which I believe might be of interest to you. I hope to count on you to handle it with utmost commitment, trust and urgency.

I wish to apologies that the details of the business will not be disclosed to you for now until you assure me beyond every reasonable doubt that I can trust you. Honesty and trust are the success key factors in this transaction, so therefore your assurance of confidentiality and trust will be highly appreciated.

I look forward to your earliest response to assist for further clarification.

Yours Sincerely,

Keith Mercer


Anti-fraud resources: