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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: "MR RONALD LUCAS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <thomaslang2013@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2013 05:04:51 -0700
Subject: <<RE: I WILL HANDLE THE EXPENSES IN THIS DEAL>>

Hello,

My name is Mr. Ronald Lucas, a Fund Manager with one of the worlds biggest investment company. I have been the personal Fund Manager to the late Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi for many years. You may wish to visit the link to confirm. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/20/muammar-gaddafi-dies-city-birth) Total sum of Forty Five Million, Seven Hundred and Forty Five Thousand British Pounds (45,745,000.00) GBP was invested on behalf of the late president of LIBYA under a SECRET CODE INVESTMENT where none of his personal information’s was used for the investment. This was a secret between both of us until his death last year. Now that former President Muammar Gaddafi is DEAD,i am contacting you for your partnership so that we can claim the funds as mentioned above. I will handle all the expenses and will require your assistance in investing the funds in your country.

Sincerely,
Mr. Ronald Lucas.

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