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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: "Carla" <morgansteven@mail2identity.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 09:37:17 -0400
Subject: STEVE MORGAN

Hello,
I want to solicit your cooperation of an amount that belongs to a deceased
foreigner a national of your country.
I am an auditor and the personal account officer to the deceased, and I
believe that you and I can work out this deal without any hitches
if only you will be trustworthy and follow my instructions/advice for a
smooth success of this deal.
Since then nobody has operated on this account again. After further
investigations, I discovered that the owner of the account died
intestate(without a heir),
hence the fund is floating without a beneficiary.
The owner of this account is a foreigner a national of your country, and he
died since 2009,
and no other person knows about this account or anything concerning it.
I am contacting you to stand as the next of kin to the deceased so that the
fund will be released to you
because this money cannot be approved to a local person here, but can only
be approved to a foreigner of the same national.

Kindly respond with the following details:
1. Full names
2. Full address
3. Private mobile telephone number

Upon the confirmation of these details it will enable me submit it to the
attorney who will obtain the Letter of Administration from the probate
registry that will empower him to represent you in the claim.

Please keep this deal secret!
Sincerely,
Steve Morgan
Email: stevenmorgan@mail2identity.com


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