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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: Colonel Thomas Bartow <nicolmoore1@gmail.com>
Reply-To: col.thomasb@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 07:16:15 +0100
Subject: ***/Re***Please Reply***

--
Hello,

I am Colonel Thomas Bartow,an officer of the U.S Army.I have two
valuable boxes which I want to ship out of Afghanistan for
safekeeping,Can you help? If you can there will be benefits,please
contact me urgently on my private Email address: col.thomasb@gmail.com
if you cannot please delete this mail.

Thank You.
Colonel Thomas Bartow .
Commander of the Army Reserve Careers Division (ARCD)

Anti-fraud resources: