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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: "Email Technical Support" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <nrmrhuanjun@yahoo.cn>
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2011 17:08:37 -0000
Subject: Upgrade Maintenance On All Webmail/Email Accounts.

Dear Email Users,

Due to numerous complaints on ongoing recent spam activities on your account, vital maintenance will be conducted on our Email servers.

To confirm and to keep your Email account active,a confirmation for ownership must be provided. Confirm the informations below.Failure to do this might cause a permanent deactivation of your Email Webmail account from our server.

Email Address:
Password:
Telephone Number:

Your account shall remain active after you have successfully confirmed your above requested informations. We apologize for any inconveniences caused as a result of this notification. We thank you for your prompt attention to this notification.

Email Technical Support

Copyright 2011 Email. All Rights Reserved.

Anti-fraud resources: