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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: "Donald Williams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <barr_debtfinance001@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 09:35:25 -0500
Subject: CONTACT BARR. ERIC OGBONNA AS SOON AS POSSIBLE !!!

THIS IS TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR LONG AWAITED COMPENSATION FUNDS HAS BEEN APPROVED BY THE UNITED NATION,YOUR FUNDS WHICH AMOUNTS TO THE TOTAL SUM OF 20 MILLION DOLLARS HAS BEEN RELEASED SO ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS TO CONTACT THE COMPENSATION DEPARTMENT WITH YOUR INFO AS LISTED..NAME,ADDRESS,AGE,TELEPHONE NUMBER,OCCUPATION,SEX.
CONTACT PERSON :BARRISTER ERIC OGBONNA
EMAIL ADDRESS :BARR_DEBTFINANCE001@YAHOO.COM
YOU ARE ADVISED TO CONTACT HIM IMMEDIATELY SO THAT YOUR FUNDS CAN GET TO YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

REGARDS,
MR. DONALD WILLIAMS

Anti-fraud resources: