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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "LOAN FIRM" <loanfirm20@cash4u.com>
Reply-To: <info.stevenfirm@gala.net>
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 13:31:27 +0800
Subject: we offer loan

Attn:
Greetings,
 
We offer loan at low interest rate of 3% per year, we offer Personal
loans, Debt Consolidation Loan, Venture Capital, Business Loan, Education
Loan, Home Loan or "Loan for any reason!". Have you been turned down by
your bank? Do you have bad credit? Do you have unpaid bills? Are you in
debt? Do you need to set up a business? Worry no more as we are here to
offer you a low interest loan. Our loan ranges from $5,000.00 USD to
$1,500,000.00 USD. If you are interested, contact us via email:
info.stevenfirm@gala.net

Anti-fraud resources: