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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: John <johj32@ymail.com>
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2011 23:35:17 +0300
Subject: I am a gold merchant

De ar Sir/Madam, It's a great pleasure for me to write you. Excuse me, i am a "gold merchant" who find buyer on-behalf of local miner here in Accra the capital of Ghana. Sir/Madam, i am highly honored to write to tell you that, we {seller} have gold dust in stock and will be very happy to know if you are interested. I work with reputable organizations, lances and authorized by the federal government of Ghana to do business "deal in gold". I am honor to write you and assure you that I don't neither abuse my customers trust in me nor do I let them down! Sir/Madam, your request will be honor as we look forward to read and to do business with you, Thanks. Best regards. Mr.John

Anti-fraud resources: