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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: "Mr.Alba Paul" <mr.albapaul01@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 10 May 2014 00:56:49 +0000
Subject: CAN I TRUST YOU

Greetings,

Please kindly accept my apology for sending unsolicited mail to you.I
believe you are a highly respected personality, considering the fact that I
sourced your profile from a human resource profile database on your
country. Though, I do not know to what extent you are familiar with events.

I am Banker by profession my name is Mr.Alba Paul ,currently holding the
post of Director Auditing and Accounting unit here in the bank,i have a
vital information about an unclaimed fund under my custody here.

And the opportunity of transferring the left over funds ($10.5 million) our
bank deceased customer late Richard Burson, who died on (Egypt Air Flight
990) along with his family.

Hence i am inviting you for a business deal where this money can be shared
between us in the ratio of 65/35 as a brotherhood.

If you agree to my business proposal, further details of the transfer will
be forwarded to you as soon as i receive your return mail.

Respectfully yours
Mr.Alba Paul

Anti-fraud resources: