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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: "Director of Foreign Affairs" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <union_western@terra.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2015 01:09:47 +0800
Subject: Re: Your Outstanding Payment

Did you assign a will of testament to Sanusi Lamido to receive your ATM Card sum of $10.5 Million dollars on your behalf ? he sent a notification to this Bank that you died in an auto crash few weeks ago and also have assigned him as the sole beneficiary to your unclaimed fund of $10.5 Million Dollars. Get back to us immediately confirming this fact if truly you are still alive but if we did not hear from within 72rhs,we have no option than to release the ATM Card to your next of kin Sanusi Lamido. reply to ( emefiele1@terra.com )

Hoping to hear from you

Cooper Williams

Anti-fraud resources: