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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: "SAMUEL ELIJAH" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <samuelelijah101@yahoo.com.ph>
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2014 08:46:25 -0500
Subject: I NEED YOUR ATTN. URGENTLY

Your Kind Attention,

I am Mr. Samuel Elijah a banker, and an account officer to late Andreas Schranner; a German contractor and property magnate who came to our country with Julius Berger construction company in 1997. He was a Contractor/Supplier with the government of Nigeria prior to his demise in the ill fated Concord AF4590 that crashed in the year 2000 alongside his entire family.
Kindly click on this link for detail http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
I am making arrangement to present you as the next of kin so that my bank can transfer the money he left with us in a fixed deposit valued US$75,000,000.00 (SEVENTY FIVE MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLAR) to your country.
I will tender my resignation letter and board the next available plane to meet with you as soon as the transfer is done. I hope I can trust you.

Mr. Samuel Elijah
Keystone Bank Ltd

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