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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: "Matthew Berstein" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <matthew.berstein14@ig.com.br>
Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2014 19:27:16 -0500
Subject: How are you doing today*

Forgive my indignation if this message comes to you as a surprise and
may offend your personality for contacting you without your prior
consent and writing through this channel. I got your contact from the
professional data base found in the internet Yahoo tourist search.
When i was searching for a foreign reliable partner. I assured of your
capability and reliability to champion this business opportunity.

I'm Captain Matthew Berstein .090209-M-3450C-014 II Marine
Expeditionary of Multinational Division Center base in
Kabul,Afghanistan, 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 some Terrorists camping in Marzar Sharif . a suburb
not too far from Kabul here in Afghanistan. After Immediate
intervention, we captured three (3) of the Terrorists,(7) injured.In
the process of torture they confessed being rebels for Abu Baqir a
Taliban sub-commander and al-Qaida group leader, and they 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 which
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 as my share.

I am in keen need of a Reliable and Trust worthy person like you 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 UNIT in Afghanistan and i will soon come back and finish the deal
and relocate 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 to have as your percentage in this business.


It is never a stolen money or illegal money but because were on duty
to bring peace in Afghanistan many soldiers lost their life and no
amount of compensation that may bring back the life of dead soldier
then consider how the family will feel,that is the reasons 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
your 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 possession and i will give you further
instructions.But you must know that i have 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 unlock
it.Please send the following information so i can proceed.

Your full name ............................
Your full address ..........................
Your direct phone number ................
Your Age .......................

Regards,
Captain Matthew Berstein

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