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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: "Gen. Craig A. Franklin" <gcfranklin@virgilio.it>
Reply-To: gencfranklin@terra.com
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2011 01:25:43 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: funds




Normal
0








MicrosoftInternetExplorer4



st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





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Hi, I
write to have you assist me with transferring funds into your account for safekeeping/investment
purposes. I sincerely apologize if you
receive this message in your spam folder.



I look
forward to a reply of some kind,

Major-Gen. Craig A. Franklin

Vice
Director, Joint Staff, the Pentagon, Washington DC, (&amp;) Commander, United States Joint Forces (Marine Corps) and Coalition
Forces IRAQ.


Anti-fraud resources: