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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: "Herbert Smith" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <herbertsmith@globomail.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2012 23:52:08 +0100
Subject: INVESTMENT PROPOSAL

Hello

I am Herbert Smith a Civil Lawyer, I have a client that wishes to invest her
financial estate in your Country. This requires a private arrangement though the
details of the transaction will be furnish to you immediately you indicate your
interest in this proposal. We have all the legal documents to back up the
transaction, besides we have worked out the modalities to ensure smooth and risky
free transfer.

We are willing to offer you 15% of the total fund and additional 10% from return on
investment (ROI), the fund in question is quite large. All correspondences will be
via email for now. I am expecting to hear from you, if you are willing to do the
business with us to send your response to my private email address

Please note that this is not scam, but legitimate business offer.

Thanks,

Yours Faithfully,

Herbert Smith


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