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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: "Mr. Anthony Agbor" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mranthony_agbor@mail.ua>
Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2015 05:37:34 -0800
Subject: RE; Investment

Dear sir,
 
I am Mr. Anthony Agbor personal assistant The Group Executive Director (GED) at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC). There is $35 million dollars in the escrow account of my corporation which we want to transfer to a reliable account.
 
This $35 million is in the account of my department for some time now which represents the surplus of an over valued/invoce contract executed for the corporation some years back. I am seeking your consent for the money to be remitted into your personal/company account so that the money remitted will be shared among the parties concerned.
 
This transaction must be kept confidential in order to protect the confidence reposed in the officials involved in this transaction. We have agreed in principle that 80% of the money goes to the officials where the money originated while 20% to the owner of the account.  I wish to inform you that this transaction requires rapid reply to enable us conclude the transaction soonest.
 
Immediately you indicate interest via my email. i will forward to you further procedures to finalized the transaction.
 
Best regards
 
Mr. Anthony Agbor

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