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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: "Mr. Terry Watson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <terrywatsonsa@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:36:21 -0000
Subject: Lets work together**

Good day,

I am a Bank Manager, I am seeking for your co-operation to present you to my bank as the next of Kin/beneficiary to our deceased customer, before his death he had a balance of 14.700.000 US Dollars with us. Dr. George Brumley, an American Nationality and a businessman who was involved in air crash along with his family. You can confirm from the website: http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/07/20/kenya.crash/index.html

If you are interested then forward to me your name, cell number, Phone/fax number, profession, age and country for immediate conclusion of this transaction.

Yours faithful,
Mr. Terry Watson.

Anti-fraud resources: