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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: "Mary W.cooper" <maryw.cooper@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:09:42 -0800 (PST)
Subject: HI


Dearest one, With love and compassion, I wish you good luck, How are you?
and how is the environment over there? I'm pleased to meet you. My name is
Mary ,i am happy to view your profile, i pray and go through it than i
decided to contact you, I am just a simple lady and single. I want you to
understand that age,color or distance does not matter but loving and caring
matters a lot in life,I will be very happy if you can get to me through my
email for private discussion and also send you my pictures for a good
start. Here is my email  here is my email

Thanks and God bless
Mary

Anti-fraud resources: