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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: "FACEBOOK ONLINE TEAM" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ralph.becka@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2015 12:00:47 -0000
Subject: FACEBOOK ONLINE TEAM

 
Dear Sir,
 
Compliments of the season.
 
As part of our updating policies and improving our Corporate social responsibility (CSR) to ACTIVE FACEBOOK USERS, You have been selected as our winner for TODAY.
 
Based on random EMAIL ADDRESSES registered with facebook account, you are thereby required to contact our Yahoo agent to claim your prize.
To claim your cash reward, kindly click reply to contact our YAHOO agent on his email.
 
cONGRATULATIONS AGAIN.
Best Regards
The FACEBOOK online Team
 
2015

Anti-fraud resources: