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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: "Col. David Harrison" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <coldavidharrison01@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2011 11:58:35 +0100
Subject: Can you be Trusted?

Hello,

I am Colonel David Harrison an officer of the U.S Army. I am on the move to Afghanistan from Iraq as the last batch just left and i have some items i will need to ship out of Iraq for safekeeping. Can you be Trusted? If yes kindly write me back for more info. Thanks

Colonel David Harrison
Commander 20th Engineer Brigade(combat)

Anti-fraud resources: