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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: "George Raoul" <georgeraoul@ovi.com>
Date: Sun, 09 Dec 2012 02:23:11 -0600
Subject: Respected

This message was originally HTML formatted. View in a HTML capable client to see the original version.\r\n\r\n Greetings, I got your profile and decided to write you for an important and confidential business proposal. My name is Mr.George Raoul from Togo. It's Just my urgent need for a foreign partner that led to my contacting you about this transaction. I am a banker by profession and currently holding the post of Chief Auditor in our Bank. I have the opportunity of transferring an unclaimed fund ($16.5M) Sixteen Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars belonging to one of my clients who died in a plane crash. Having no one coming up to claim his funds and if left unclaimed will be transferred to the government treasury by the bank. Hence, I am inviting you for a business deal where we can facilitate the transfer of this fund and have promised 50% as your percentage once we are through, if you agree to my business proposal. Further details of the transfer will be forwarded to you as soon as I receive your mail response with your phone number, address, date of birth Occupation/position and your marital status. Yours Faithfully Mr.George Raoul

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