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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: "Capt Roland Ferguson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <captferguson@rediffmail.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2010 06:57:20 +0100
Subject: This is my third and final mail.

Hello,

I am Army Capt.Roland Ferguson in the Engineering military unit here in
Ba'qubah in Iraq cleaning up after the war as well as protecting lives and
property from the hands of terrorists/Al Qaeda network, anyway my main reason of
contacting you is that my colleagues and I moved some funds found in Saddam
Hussien dug-house worth waiting for the perfect time to move out the funds from
Iraq, now we have information that our battalion will be pulling out of Iraq
next month, so we believe this is the right time to move the cash out of Iraq.

See Link:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm

Hence I am seeking for your assistance to assist us to receive the cash on our
behalf.I will send more information to you about the way forward once I hear
back from you.
Contact me on this email address: captferguson@rediffmail.com

Yours truly.
Capt Roland Ferguson

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