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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 Hughes" <revfrjohnnhes@rediffmail.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:05:55 +0100 (CET)
Subject: From Rev Fr. John Hughes,Please, read my mail and reply.

My Dear Beloved,
My name is Rev Fr. John Hughes. I am 74 years old now. I have been
suffering in the sick bed for the past 7 years at Ruby General Hospital
Limited Kasba Golpark, E M Bypass Kolkata-700 107, India. Now I believe
that my time has come to join my ancestors in heaven. I got your email
address from the Internet, as the spirit of Almighty God directed me to
contact you for this charity work. I have US$11.1M deposited in a safe
location in Europe , which I want you to claim on my behalf for an
important charitable project. Can you honestly do this for me?
Remain bless in the Lord.
Rev Fr. John Hughes.

Anti-fraud resources: