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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. Chidinma Williams." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <chidinmawilliamss@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2014 05:09:15 -0700
Subject: Treat this as soon as possible.

My name is Mr. Chidinma Williams the director of payment in the African Union/united nations scam victim compensation board. Presently we are paying compensation of 4.5Million United States Dollars each to over 200 victims, luckly you are presently qualified to receive this payment. Kindly respond to this email for details.
Regards,
Mr. Chidinma Williams.
E-: chidinmawilliams@te96.com
E-: chidinmawilliamss@gmail.com
Tel: + 234 8171732286.

Anti-fraud resources: