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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: "Mrs . Asma al-Assad" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <alassad7@aol.com>
Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2013 15:50:51 +0100
Subject: GREETINGS

Greetings,
I am Mrs. Asma al-Assad, first lady of Syria.
The wife of Syria President Bashar al Assad, I have a proposal for you If
you know you can do this, contact me via my private box: alassad7@yahoo.com.hk
so that I can furnish you with more details
but if my offer is of no appeal to you, delete this message and forget I
ever contacted you. I await your reply,
Regards,
Mrs. Asma al-Assad

Anti-fraud resources: