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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: "Heather Rogers" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <rogers.heather40@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 08:33:40 -0700
Subject: RE: Business opportunity/

Good Day,

I hope this proposal meets you in a good state of health.

I need your help to transfer and invest fifteen million five hundred Thousand US dollars that accumulated as undeclared profit made by my branch.

All that is required to get the funds transferred out of here is to program your name on the account holding the funds.

This will practically make you a customer of the bank. You will get 35% of the funds for your role.

If you get back to me with your physical contact address and direct telephone number, we will consummate the funds transfer within one week.

Kind Regards

Heather Rogers

Anti-fraud resources: