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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: steve wood <woodsteve43@msn.com>
Reply-To: <woodsteve31@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 5 Oct 2011 15:44:46 +0000
Subject: From Steve Wood.




Greetings to you,
I am Sgt.Steve Wood, a US soldier currently on military assignment in Iraq,
I humbly ask of your assistance to secure and invest some money for me
in your country.

My unit was assigned duties to protect oil facilities here in Iraq and
in the course of carrying out my assignment, I had a business deal
with an Iraq Oil dealer in which i realized the sum of us$7.5Million.

I managed to move the funds out of Iraq and deposited it in a bank in
U.A.E with hope that i will soon be through with my assignment in Iraq.

On November last year, I received a notification from my account
officer in the bank that the U.A.E government has passed a new
financial control law which will be put in effect in few months to
come and he advised me to get the funds transferred from U.A.E before
the new law commences, Considering the fact that I am still involved
in service, I therefore urge you to help me to receive the funds in
your account pending when I am disengaged from my military assignment.

I promise to compensate you with 20% of the funds for your assistance
while hoping that you assist me as soon as possible.

Best regards,
Sgt.Steve.

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