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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: "Brad Ranton" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <bradranton@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2013 19:47:01 +0700
Subject: urgent reply please

Greetings,

I hope this email find you in good health, my name is Brad Ranton, I am a Petroleum Engineer with one of the leading petroleum companies in the United Kingdom. I unassumingly solicit for your utmost consideration to work with you in securing and actualizing a multimillion dollar oil and gas contract.

In an open minded manner, I purposefully contact you to negotiate my proposition for working with you to secure and actualize the contract for our mutual benefit. If you willingly accept my offer, I shall provide you with the relevant details and protocols in securing the contract. Get back to me directly through my private email so we can discuss further.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Brad Ranton
Private Email
bradranton@yahoo.com

Anti-fraud resources: