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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: "KIRLOSKAR, Nirmala" <dsdxcc@met.gov.to>
Reply-To: nirkirlo@outlook.com
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2012 13:15:52 +1300
Subject: Re: Poste

Respected Sir/Madam,

I hope you are not offended with my impromptu message. I am Nirmala
Kirloskar, a citizen of India but now resident in the UK 5 years, I wish
to intimate you of a beneficial transaction. I only pray you have the
capacity to do it. Before my current job as a sales person, I worked with
a man who still communicates with me till date and entrusted me with most
of his secrets. Recently I was told that he was very sick so I went to see
him. During my visit to him, he asked me if I could help him look after
his daughter and I agreed. Then he asked me if I could secure his
daughter's future by making good investment of some amount of his money?
To this, I could not say a thing because I do not know how to invest money
wisely; I have always been an employee. So he asked me to get someone
close to me whom I can trust and be confident in.

Since I am an orphan with two little kids and no husband, the only option
is to seek for someone intelligent enough to do an investment for us. My
ex-boss is a very wealthy man, so I trust he is talking about a generous
amount here. I could only know if I tell him I am ready with the
investor(s).

Sir/madam, I do not know you, and I am not prepared to disappoint my
ex-boss. Not in this life! Someone told me to try email broadcast and that
is why I am sending this email. If you are a good investor and a sincere
person, please write back to me as soon as possible. My ex-boss insists I
get this over with at once. He will let us know what to do when you
respond. If not just destroy this email.

Trust,
Nirmala Kirloskar












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