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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 Harrison Izualor" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <harisonizu@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2014 00:26:37 +0530
Subject: URGENT ATTENTION IS NEEDED

Dear Sir/Madam,
I am a former manager billing and exchange at the foreign remittance department of La Caixa Bank, Madrid - Spain. A friend of mine whom I assisted in moving out his fund from our bank to a bank of his destination decided to appreciate my effort in moving out his fund without stress.
This appreciation token is in the tune of US$12,500,000.00 (Twelve Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) deposited in one the financial security company here in Madrid. If you wish, I will provide you with details to verify the existence of the fund by contacting the security company.
This fund has been left in their security vault since 6 months now waiting for an instruction from my friend to be released. According to my arrangement with him, whenever I am set to move out the fund to any bank of my choice, He is willing to instruct the security company for onward transfer to the specified bank account. My purpose of contacting you is to enable me use your bank account to move out the fund I cannot do it alone.... Because I live here in Spain and as a former banker, I will not be able to defend such fund if I should embark on the project alone. Hence, I contacted you.
If you are interested in this deal, let me know on your return mail so that I will give you more details on how to proceed further.
Please get back to me as soon as possible on harisonizu@gmail.com
Thanks
Harrison Izualor

Anti-fraud resources: