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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: news@energy-net.org
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2016 10:54:05 -0700
Subject: PayPal™ Service =?UTF-8?Q?=E2=9C=89_?=

 PayPalSecure™      


Update Your Account Information !

Hello PayPal customer,

Some information on your account appears to be missing or incorrect.
Please update your information promptly so that you can continue to enjoy all the benefits of your account.

If you need help logging in, go to our Help Center by clicking the Help link located in the upper right-hand corner of any PayPal page. Sincerely,.

Please do not reply to this email. We are unable to respond to inquiries sent to this address.

Check your account

If you didn't add this email, let us know right away. It's important because it helps us make sure no one is accessing your account without your knowledge.

Yours sincerely,
PayPal™

Anti-fraud resources: