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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: "Sgt Frederick Smith" <info@uno.com>
Reply-To: usmiliraqfredericksmith@admin.in.th
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:23:00 -0500 (COT)
Subject: RE

Hello,

My name is Sgt Frederick Smith a United States Army and a member of the
USARPAC Medical Team that was stationed in Baghdad, Iraq.I want to share
important information about my experience while serving with the U.S 1st
Armored here in Iraq that would be of mutual benefit to us. I however
cannot reveal all the information now due to the fact that we have not yet
agreed to cooperate in this mutually beneficial enterprise. In other
words, I am constrained to hold back some information for security reasons
for now, until you have find the time to visit the BBC website links below
to enable you have an insight into what I intend to share with you, hoping
that the information contained there will pique your interest one way or
the other, US Soldiers have been evacuated from Iraq in line with Mr.
President's directive and I am among the 50,000 US soldiers left behind to
train Iraqi soldiers, Please view the bbc news website below;

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

After digesting the information contained in the website I will like a
confirmation of that so that we can discuss a matter of high importance
and mutual interest. I must confess that I am very uncomfortable sending
this message to you as I cannot predict your reaction, you may misconstrue
the importance and decide to go public, which will be rather unfortunate.
With the worse in mind, I have to say that the essence of this message is
strictly for mutual benefit.I will be more explicit upon a response from
you. Please respond with a confirmation that you have visited the website
and that you are keen on learning more. I will await your thoughts via my
personal email address;usmiliraqfredericksmith@admin.in.th

Thanks for your time,

Best Regards,
Sgt Frederick Smith






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