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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. Alfonso Zapata" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <zzapata@rediffmail.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2012 06:09:27 +0200
Subject: Confidential Letter

Bill and Exchange Manager
Mr. Alfonso Zapata
PrivateEmail: zzapata@rediffmail.com
Private Fax: 00 34 917 692 656
 
Attention,
 
I am Mr. Alfonso Zapata, a staff of Ing-Direct Spain. I have a confidential business proposal for you. There is this business opportunity here in our bank which is an abandoned sum of 8.2M (Eight million Two Hundred Thousand Euros) that belongs to one of our foreign customer who died in 2002. I decided to contact you based on the fact that I will present you as the beneficiary.
 
Please download the attach file to read about this proposal, I attached it for a security reason.
 
There are practically no risks involved, this transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement with all the legal documents. I plead with you on one issue; keep this transaction confidential and all the information between you and me, get back to me via my private e-mail or my personal fax for confidentiality.
 
Best Regards,
Mr. Alfonso Zapata
Private Email: zzapata@rediffmail.com
Private Fax: 00 34 917 692 656

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