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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr.Tim Cocks" <cccccctin30@rediffmail.com>
Reply-To: mr.tim@journalist.com
Date: Wed, 16 May 2012 19:18:11 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: Greetings




-- Greetings.

I'm Mr.Tim Cocks from United States of America. I am a Journalist working in Tripoli the economic capital city of Libya, Actually, I acquired $3,500,000.00 cash in a consignment trunk box from Former Libya president Muammar Gaddafi.

I need a good reliable person who I can trust to assist me in receiving the money in cash, all arrangement to bring the consignment from Libya to your country has being concluded with United Nations delivery agent.

If you can be a trustworthy person to receive this money, since I can not make use of the money directly due to my Position as a Journalist.

I'm offering you 30% of the total sum for your assistance and 70% will be transferred to my account which I will provide to you.

Your role in this transaction is to find a safe place where the funds can be sent to, if you are interested I will update you with more details. But the whole process is simple and we must keep a low profile at all times.

This business will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of laws, I thank you in advance as I anticipate your co-operation waiting for your urgent response and the best mode of communication to me is through email: mr.tim@journalist.com
 
Regards,
 
Tim Cocks
Independent Journalist
Contact: mr.tim@journalist.com

Anti-fraud resources: