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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 Mark Tumelo" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <marktumelo@56788.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2014 20:42:37 +0200
Subject: READ!

Good Day,

I contacted you because your name and email contact was among the findings that matches the same Surname during my quest to locate a relative of my late client who died leaving behind USd28.5M,and would therefore love to Reinvest the dormant money to you,since you have the same surname.All necessary details needed to claim the Funds are with me. if interested please respond with the following to enable us to proceed in this matter to mark a beginning of a mutual benefiting business relationship with you.1 Your Full completed names, 2 Telephone & fax number,3 occupation,4 address and age.

Sincerely,
Engr. Mark Tumelo

Anti-fraud resources: