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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: "Mr.M.Paul" <marp1992@att.net>
Reply-To: <martinpaul1992@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:00:16 +0100
Subject: IT WILL INTEREST YOU!!!

My Dear Friend,

My name is Mr. M . Paul I work with the Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Ltd as the Regional Manager.

I do not want problems but I just hope you can assist me, I write you this letter in good faith; I have a transaction of Three million two hundred and fifty thousand United States dollars ($3,250,000.00). I realized this fund from my bank excess profit after trading with the capital sum and I deposited the funds in escrow call account, where nobody will have access to it, even the bank does not have access to this account because it cannot be deducted, until after the transfer.

Meanwhile as you know I can not be directly connected to this money for obvious reasons. So my contacting you is to assist me receive the funds in your bank account in your country, which I know is possible if you liaise properly with me and get 30% of the total funds as your benefit. The transfer would be made via swift and it will be a Bank-to-Bank wired transfer.

All I need is for you to get a good current account where this fund can be transferred into, and for you to stand to claim as the original depositor of this fund. Within four working days the funds will be transferred to your designated bank account.

Thanks for your understanding and co-operation.

Thank you and your family too,

Mr. M .Paul.

Anti-fraud resources: