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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: Captain Craig Nicholas <capt.craignicholas@gmail.com> (may be fake)
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 00:11:32 +0900
Subject: I Contacted You Because i Need Trust

Hello,


I am a captain commanding 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment with the United States and Britain Coalition Force in Afghanistan. Due the decision by our Government to withdraw our troops from Iraq earlier this year, I have decided to quit the Marines.

I am looking at a possibility of doing business with you that is why I contacted you. On the other hand I want to inform you that I have in my possession the sum of $15.2million (US Dollars) which was recovered from one of our raids on terrorists here in Afghanistan in the heat of battle, possibly funds left by Government. I do not intend handing this money over to the Government back, so I have deposited this money with a Red Cross agent informing him that we are making contact for the real owner of the money. It is under my power to approve whoever comes forth for this money.

I wish to use this money to start my life back with my family and that is why i want you to help me out in this deal, that was the more reason I decided to resign from the military. Once I move this money out of here through diplomatic courier service which is the safest means. I really don’t want to die fighting terrorists and criminals all my life.

I can’t wire this money to the States as troops are limited to using Army sanctioned remittance services and that will draw serious attention. I need someone I could deal with. If you accept, I will transfer the money to you, making you the beneficiary because I am a uniformed person and i cannot be parading such an amount so I need to present someone as the beneficiary. I am an American and an intelligence officer as such I do have ways of transferring the money through diplomatic courier service. I just need your acceptance and all is done.


Please if you are interested in this transaction I will give to you the complete details you need for us to carry out this transaction successfully. I decided to find someone that is real and not imaginary. I believe I can trust you. Where we are now we can only communicate through our military communication facilities which are secured so nobody can monitor our discussions, then I can explain in details to you. I will only reach you through emails, because our calls might be monitored, I just have to be sure whom I am dealing with.

Also I want you to know that am revealing this deal to you with belief that you will never let me down in this business, you are the first and the only person that I am contacting for this deal, so please reply urgently so that I will inform you on the next step to take urgently. If you are interested please reply me immediately so I can contact you for further inquiries. I am writing from a fresh email account so if you are not interested do not reply to this email and please delete this message, if no response after 3days I will then search for someone else. I am doing this on trust, you should understand and you should know that as a trained military expert I will always play safe in case you are the bad type, but I pray you are not. $15.2million is a lot of money which is the dream of anyone.


I wait for your contact details so we can go on. In less than 7days the money should have been noted on your care and I will come over for my money. I will give to you 30% of the sum and 70% is for me and we would both invest on your business as I think it’s profitable. I hope I am being fair on this deal.you can reply me with this email address : capt.craignicholas@gmail.com

Regards,

Capt. Craig Nicholas.




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