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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: <camastein@HarryBInc.onmicrosoft.com>
Reply-To: <captmatthewberstein@live.com>
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2013 23:28:33 +0530
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL TRUST


Dear friend, Forgive my indignation if this message comes to you as a surp=
rise and may offend your personality for contacting you without your prior =
consent and writing through this channel. I got your contact from a close a=
ssociate who recommended you during my searching for a foreign reliable par=
tner. I have being assured of your capability and reliability to champion t=
his business opportunity. I'm Captain Matthew Berstein .090209-M-3450C-014 =
II Marine Expeditionary of Multinational Division Center base in Kabul, Afg=
hanistan, of the NATO Marine Force on Monitoring and Peace keeping mission =
in Afghanistan, On May 23,2013 we were alerted on the sudden presence of so=
me Terrorists camping in Marzar Sharif . a suburb not too far from Kabul he=
re in Afghanistan. After Immediate intervention, we captured three (3) of t=
he Terrorists,(7) injured.In the process of torture they confessed being re=
bels for Abu Baqir a Taliban sub-commander and al-Qaida group leader, and t=
hey took us to a cave in Marzar Sharif. which served as their camp.Here we =
recovered several guns and other Ammunitions including some boxes among whi=
ch two contains nuclear weapons, and the other contains some millions of US=
Dollars and i have in my possession the sum of 15.7 million U.S. dollars a=
s my share. I am in keen need of a Reliable and Trust worthy person like yo=
u who would receive the MONEY,secure and protect the box which contains the=
US Dollars for me because in 3 weeks time some U.S.Army will replace our U=
NIT in Afghanistan and i will soon come back and finish the deal and reloca=
te my family to your country. I assure and promise to give you 30% of this =
fund and you keep 70%for me, however feel free to negotiate what you wish t=
o have as your percentage in this business. It is never a stolen money or i=
llegal money but because were on duty to bring peace in Afghanistan many so=
ldiers lost their life and no amount of compensation that may bring back th=
e life of dead soldier then consider how the family will feel,that is the r=
easons my unit decided to share the money among us but return all the guns =
and ammunition's to our Camp,it is official and that's the reason i need yo=
ur assistance to ship the box to any save location of your choice. Please, =
i trust you to maintain absolute secrecy and confidentiality to protect my =
job,myself and the money. In less than 5 days the box should be in your pos=
session and i will give you further instructions.But you must know that i h=
ave taken precautionary measures to secure the money.The box is coded with =
high security gadget so am the only one that has the right combination to u=
nlock it.Please send the following information so i can proceed. Your full =
name ............................ Your full address .......................=
... Your direct phone number ................... Your Age .................=
.................. Your occupation............................. Regards, Ca=
ptain Matthew Berstein=20

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