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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: info <iinfo831@gmail.com>
Reply-To: allenpatr@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 02:52:51 -0800
Subject: Hello

*Hello Please bear these unsolicited contact with me, I need your attention
to discuss a very important but personal matter. I will just give my name
as Patrick Allen, and will for now say that I am a staff of Canadian
private security company stationed in Qatar, I will tell you more when I
consider it safe enough to share more. The referenced matter will provide
me and you an opportunity of having access to US$ 32.7 Million cash in just
a couple of days, with little or no risks or any form of trouble/scandals
either now or in future.I will send necessary details when I receive your
response with some assurances that you will protect my identity and would
be honest with me, I know you may be skeptical as you hardly know me, so to
cushion your fears, I volunteer to send adequate proof of my identity that
you can go ahead and confirm when we agree in principle to work together.
I hope to hear from you soon to discuss this matter further.
Best Wishes, Patrick Allen*

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