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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: "Dr Patrick Ado" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ecowascommitee.ado1@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:35:54 +0100
Subject: Treat As Urgent

>From The Desk of
Dr. Patrick Ado,
Ecowas Commitee
On foreign payment ,
Tel; +233 26563708,
Attn; Consignee,
 
Your Cash consignment will leave Ghana en-route our offshore payment centre this Night. It is a metal box, silver in colour with a weight of about 120kg, the box is declared as containing diplomatic /inheritance documents only, and the actual content is cash. Please re-confirm the following;
Your Full Names,
Your Surface Address,
Your Direct Phone Number,
Note: I know the content of the Box because I could see the amount you are being owned, $3.8Million United States Dollars. This is why I decided to get involved. Please, note, that you have to procure these two documents to enable easy clearance of your consignment at your country port of entry e.g. the Anti Drug Law Certificate and the United Nations Fund Clearance Certificate.
You have been told to secure these two documents before, and this is the reason why your fund hasn’t delivered to you; so I crave your indulgence to expedite action towards the procurement of these two documents to avoid any hitch during the delivery of your consignment. 
Waiting for your call
Dr. Patrick Ado
Ecowas/ Commitee on F/P.
Call Me on 233 26563708

Anti-fraud resources: