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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: "fcorteg@tin.it" <fcorteg@tin.it>
Reply-To: officem773@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 3 Sep 2013 08:39:41 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: ATTENTION CUSTOMER

ATTENTION CUSTOMER,
BE INFORMED THAT THE INFORMATION I RECEIVED FROM OUR
CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS THIS MORNING STATES THAT YOU HAVE 72HOURS LEFT
TO
EFFECT$52.00 PAYMENT FOR ACTIVATION OF YOUR ACCOUNT TO ENABLE YOU CASH
UPYOUR
FIRST
PAYMENT OF $6000.00 FROM WESTERN UNION TODAY.
SEND THEACTIVATION FEE WITHTHE INFORMATION BELLOW AND FORWARD THE
MTCN AND YOURRECEIVER'S CITY ADDRESS INTHIS EMAIL
( officem773@gmail.com)Receiver's
Name__ JOHN ONYEKWEReceiver's
Address__No 17 Gariki Road Cotonou,BeninRepublic.Country _Benin
RepublicCity___Cotonou
Text question_TrustAnswer_Me
Amount____$52.00usdMTCN Number__
BEST REGARDS,Jim Tom

Anti-fraud resources: