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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: "miss mary anderson" <mary.anderson77@yahoo.in>
Reply-To: maryanderson19026@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2011 13:52:44 -0400
Subject: Hello Dear,



Hello Dear,

Compliments of the day. I came across your contact address while searching for
someone to help me, I lost my parents and want you to stand as my foreign
trustee to retrive and invest USD$6.5 Million which I inherited from my late
parent. I tried to get this money out from the bank , but the management
refused because of my age. I am ready to give you 25% of the whole money at
the completion of the transaction, write me back for more details.

Regards, Miss.Mary Anderson.


Anti-fraud resources: