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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: "Mrs. Augusta Madu" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <augustamadu@qq.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 20:08:52 +0200
Subject: Re:PLEASE CLARIFY

Greetings, in the name of Lord Jesus Christ.My name is Mrs. Augusta Madu, I am a widow to late Abu Madu, a new Christian convert suffering from long time cancer of the breast with only six months to live according my Doctors, I am presently in a Hospital in London taken my treatment. I inherited all my late husband's business and wealth after his death because during the period of our marriage we couldn't produce any child, and now I have decided to divide this wealth to churches in Africa,PLEASE VIEW ATTACHMENT FOR VITAL DETAILS.

Anti-fraud resources: