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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: "Robert Johnson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <robihj001@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2014 13:55:35 +0100
Subject: Hello

Hello, Please forgive my using this means to reach you but I can’t think of any other way of letting you know the urgent matter at hand. A customer of our Bank late Dr Agostino..........., an Italian Businessman, he was one of victims of Air France Flight 447 Plane crash, left behind a huge sum of money with interest totaling $4.2 Million only, in a dormant account.
 
http://www.airfrance447.com/06/02/unofficial-air-france-447-passenger-list/
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8077858.stm 
 
The Bank has asked me as his account manager to late Mr. Agostino .......... to provide a next of kin if there is or the estate will then revert to the government and so it would be lost. Please contact me as soon as possible for more information’s.
 
Yours sincerely,
Mr.Robert Johnson

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