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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: Miriam Lorna <miramlorna10@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrpaul205@voila.fr
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:35:52 +0100 (BST)
Subject: MESSAGE FROM MR GOODMAN



Hello

I work with a bank In West Africa,Burkina faso .I have a business transaction for you.

Inmy department we discovered an abandoned sum of $10.5 Million USDollars .In an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer whodied along with his entire family in car bomb in Iraq.

Sincehis supposed next of kin died along side with him at the Bombblast,there is nobody to claim the left over balance in the account.Itis therefore upon this discovery that I and other officials in mydepartment decided to seek your assistance and present you to the bankas his Next of kin.

Ifyou accept i would give you the guide lines of how we can achieve thistransfer of the balance (10.5Million Dollars) to your account.and wewill shear the money 50-50%.

I expect that you will give me your telephone and fax numbers for easy communication with you and for more details.

Best Regards

Mr Paul

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