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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: "Chadwick Timothy" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <chadwicktimo@gmx.com>
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2014 00:10:40 -0700
Subject: My Friend Reply

My Dear Friend,
I am interested to invest in your Country  but I contacted you primarily in confidence hoping that you can be a trustworthy person and would also be helpful in a matter like this.
I am Chadwick Timothy, a former Male Army during the United States war in Iraq. Now that the United States has ended its mission in Iraq, I am presently in Afghanistan for further assignments but will soon be deployed to the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC).
During my 6 years stay here in Iraq I was able to make the sum of $3.5 million. This money came from Oil deals and community security donors  which I got involved in. I cannot move this money to the United States because I will be in your country for about 5 years. Secondly, I am an uniformed person and I cannot be parading such an amount so I need to present someone as the beneficiary. I am an American and an intelligence officer for that I have a 100% authentic means of transferring the money through diplomatic courier service .I just need your acceptance and all is done.
The only way to be safe with this money is to invest it there in your country considering the fact that I will be there for some time. So I need someone I could deal with. If you accept, I will move the money to you where you will be the beneficiary. For your assistance you will take 20% of the total fund and 80% will be for me, from there I will invest the remaining. Before I left Iraq for Afghanistan, I sealed and deposited the consignment at the Red Cross office in Baghdad with an agreement that I will furnish them with details of my partner and recipient of the consignment.
If we agree to work together, I shall make out time to go to Baghdad to conclude the consignment shipment formalities and introduce you to them as my partner and recipient of the consignment. Where we are now, we can only communicate through our military communication facilities which are secured. Please send me your personal E-mail Address so I can send you more details for further inquiries when I am out of our military network. I shall give you more details when I receive your reply via my Private Email: chadwicktimo@gmx.com
Best regards
Chadwick Timothy,
chadwicktimo@gmx.com

Anti-fraud resources: