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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: Amar Uslam <dr.amars@sify.com>
Reply-To: dr.amar@sify.com
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 12:06:17 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: -REPLY AFTER READ



Dear Partner,
Hope this mail finds you in good health. My name is Dr.Amar Uslam. I am the Manager of Foreign Operations Department of our bank in Burkina Faso. I discovered an unclaimed deposit of US$14 million from a dormant /inoperative account, owned by a foreign deceased customer who has no body to file claim since his death took place. In fact all the efforts I made to locate any of his relative or close business partners were futile. Therefore, I request that you apply for the claim and release of this money in your account as the business foreign partner/consultant to the deceased, as our law stipulated provided you are a foreigner. If you are interested, we have to start immediately before the mandate time issued for such claim expires, and furnish me with your details on your reply.
I am waiting for urgent your response.

Regards,
Dr.Amar Uslam

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