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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: "Joe Bricks" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <joebricks18@yahoo.pt>
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2015 08:24:19 -0700
Subject: Urgent Business

My name is Joe Bricks, Chief Financial Officer of Bank in Europe , I am in possession of the sum of 50,000,000.(Fifty Million United States Dollars which belong to a late customer of my bank who died declaring no next of kin. I can make you the next of kin and arrange for this Money to be transferred to your detailed Account if we have a good understanding Reply me if interested so i can give you more details. But if you feel is a Scam then I will advise you don't respond back.


Regards,

Joe Bricks

Anti-fraud resources: