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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: Edward Ford <stastny@irsm.cas.cz>
Reply-To: <edford.ford@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 05:06:37 +0100
Subject: Hello



--
Good day.

I wish to notify you that the sum of 5 million United States Dollars,
has been approved to you.

This action, was the final resolution taken by IMF and United Nations
to clear up all outstanding debt by cutting all debt payments down to
Five million US dollars only to each beneficiary. We have so far,
reconciled and have paid over 62 beneficiaries, who have had various
problems receiving their payments in the past as we have been able to
ascertain the cause of some of these delays, which was pointed to divert
of beneficiary's funds by officials and banks, that extort money from
beneficiaries.

Acknowledge receipt of this letter urgently and state in your response
how you want to receive this money.

I await your response.

Best Regards,

Edward Ford.

Anti-fraud resources: