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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: hmtreasury-osborne@qq.com
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 19:27:28 -0400
Subject: Notification concerning your Compensation!!!

Attn; Sir/Madam,

HM-Treasury wishes to notify you as a Scam Victim Beneficiary and hereby
compensate you with the sum of One Million British POUND Sterling. Contact the
chancellor of the Treasury for claim via his PERSONAL email address, and details
on how you were awarded this amount with his details below:

Name: Rt. Hon. George Osborne
Address: Parliamentary House of COMMONS,
London, SW1A 0AA.
Email address: hmtreasury-osborne@qq.com

Regards,
Jon Thompson
La informacion contenida en este e-mail y sus anexos puede ser confidencial y/o reservada, y solo puede ser utilizada por la persona o la entidad a la cual esta dirigido. Si no es usted el destinatario autorizado, cualquier retencion, difusion, distribucion o copia de este mensaje esta prohibida y sancionada por la ley. Si por error recibe este mensaje, le ofrecemos disculpas y le agradecemos reenviar y borrar el mensaje recibido y sus anexos inmediatamente. Las opiniones expresadas en este mensaje son responsabilidad exclusiva de quien las emite, ellas no comprometen la responsabilidad institucional por el uso que el destinatario haga de los mismos.

Anti-fraud resources: