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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: Agisd Mel <jilaniaminah02@yahoo.co.jp>
Reply-To: Agisd Mel <agisdmel@voila.fr>
Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2014 09:26:17 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Greetings from Tony Slim,


Greetings from Tony Slim,
Please allow me to intimate you with a business transaction that would benefit both of us. My name is Tony Slim ,
I am the Secretary to the Director of the project and engineering division of SODECI (Société de distribution d'eau de Côte d'Ivoire).
I will want you to assist me in the claim and transfer of (Euro 7000.000.00 €) Seven Million Euros.
This amount was realized from over-invoiced contract amount awarded by us in 2007 to expatriate companies.
The Contracts Amount was deliberately overestimated to read more than the actual cost of the project thus leaving a surplus of Seven Million Euros.
However, as a staff of SODECI I cannot claim this money without a foreign partner who will act as the contract beneficiary and as such, entitled to receive the funds as payment.
This is why I am contacting you to allow this money to be transferred into your account and to be my custodian for the money.
If you are willing to assist me in this transaction please get back to me so I can give you further details about this transaction. After the transfer, the money will be shared between me and you when I get to your country. I look forward to hear from you.

Regards,
Tony Slim

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