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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: "Terry Mark" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <terrymark900@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2015 03:09:27 +0100
Subject: Hello,

WE ARE MAKING THIS CONTACT WITH YOU AFTER SATISFACTORY INFORMATION GATHERED FROM THE NIGERIAN CHANBER OF COMMERCE.BASED ON THIS,WE ARE CONVINCED THAT YOU WILL PROVIDE US WITH A SOLUTION TO EFFECT REMITTANCE OF THE SUN OF $35,500.000.00 RESULTING FROM OVER COSTING OF SERVICES DONE FOR THE NIGERIAN NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION, BY FOREIGN COMPANIES. WE ARE TOP OFFICIALS OF NNPC.WE EVALUATE AND SECURE APPROVALS FOR PAYMENT OF CONTRACTS EXECUTED FOR NNPC WE HAVE TACTFULLY RAISED VALUES TO A FOREIGN COMPANY FOR ONWARD DISBURSEMENT AMONG OURSELVES THE DIRECTOR OF ACCOUNTS/FINANCE AND DIRETOR OF AUDIT.THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% SAFE. WE ARE SEEKING YOUR ASSISTANCE AND PERMISSION TO REMIT THIS AMOUNT INTO YOUR ACCOUNT. PLEASE REPOND IF YOU INTERESTED THROUGHT MY ALTERNATIVE ADDRESS TERRYMATK900@GMAIL.COM THANKS FOR YOUR CO-OPERATIONS. YOURS FAITHFULLY, TERRY MARK

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