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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: "Lt.Colonel.Paul Carlos" <polegar.apm@ilhasolteira.sp.gov.br>
Reply-To: "Lt.Colonel.Paul Carlos" <lieutenantgeneral.paulcarlos@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 19:20:13 -0300 (BRT)
Subject: From Lieutenant Colonel Paul Carlos

My name is Lieutenant Col Paul Carlos ; I am an American soldier,
serving in the military with the 3rd marine commando division in
Afghanistan. With a very desperate need for assistance, I have summed
up courage to contact you.I am seeking your kind assistance to move
the sum of (US$12.7, million dollars) to you, as far as I can be
assured that my money will be safe in your care until I complete my
service here come next month, this is no stolen money, and there is no
danger involved.

Source of money: Some money in various currencies was discovered in
barrels at a farmhouse near Kabul during a rescue operation, and it
was agreed by parties involved that this money be shared among us.
This was quite an illegal thing to do, but I tell you what? No
compensation can make up for the risk we have taken with our lives in
this hellhole, and I have been shot,wounded and survived two suicide
bomb attacks by the special grace of God. This and other reasons has
prompted me to reach out for help. The above figure I took as my
share, and to conceal this kind of money became a problem for me, so
with the help of a British contact working here and his office enjoy
some immunity, I was able to get the package out to a safe location
entirely out of trouble spot. He does not know the real contents of
the package, and believes that it belongs to a British / American
medical doctor who died in a raid here in Afghanistan, and before
giving up, trusted me to hand over the package to his family.

I want to promise you 30% of this money for the assistance you will
give to me but one passionate appeal I will make to you is not to
discuss this matter with anybody. Should you have reasons to reject
this offer, please and please destroy this message as any leakage of
this information will be too bad for us soldier’s here in Afghanistan.
In less than 4 days the box should be in your possession and as I said
earlier, I will give you 30% of the total amount and 70% for me. I
hope I have been fair to this deal. Get back to me with your full
information and I will proceed with the registration.

Your full name ..........................

Your full address .......................

Your direct phone number ................

Thank you in advance,

Lieutenant Colonel Paul Carlos.

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