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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: Lt-Gen Paul Carlos <blayjohnson93@gmail.com>
Reply-To: ltgenpaulcarlos@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2015 09:45:33 +0100
Subject: Re: Greetings from Lt-Gen Paul Carlos.


Dear Friend

My name is Lieutenant General Paul Carlos ; I am a United Nations military
personnel, serving in the military with the 3rd marine commando division in
Nigeria to fight the Insurgent called { Boko Harram }. With a very
desperate need for assistance, I have summed up courage to contact you.I am
seeking your kind assistance to move the sum of (US$6.5, million dollars)
to you, as far as I can be assured that my money will be safe in your care
until I complete my service here come May 2015, this is no stolen money,
and there is no danger involved.

Source of money: Some money in various currencies was discovered in
barrels at a farmhouse near Sambisa forest during a rescue operation, and
it was agreed by parties involved that this money be shared among us. This
was quite an illegal thing to do,but I tell you what? No compensation can
make up for the risk we have taken with our lives in this hellhole, and I
have been shot,wounded and survived two suicide bomb attacks by the special
grace of God. This and other reasons has prompted me to reach out for help.
The above figure I took as my share, and to conceal this kind of money
became a problem for me, so with the help of a British contact working here
and his office enjoy some immunity, I was able to get the package out to a
safe location entirely out of trouble spot. He does not know the real
contents of the package, and believes that it belongs to a British /
American medical doctor who died in a raid here in Nigeria, and before
giving up, trusted me to hand over the package to his family.


I want to promise you 30% of this money for the assistance you will give
to me but one passionate appeal I will make to you is not to discuss this
matter with anybody. Should you have reasons to reject this offer, please
and please destroy this message as any leakage of this information will be
too bad for us soldier’s here in Nigeria. In less than 4 days the box
should be in your possession and as I said earlier, I will give you 30% of
the total amount and 70% for me. I hope I have been fair to this deal. Get
back to me with your full information and I will proceed with the
registration.



Your full name ..........................


Your full address .......................


Your direct phone number ................



Thank you in advance,



Lt-Gen Paul Carlos.

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