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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: "Mark Schmid" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <schmid@1email.eu>
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2016 10:52:44 -0500
Subject: Re: Attn:Sir/Ma,

Hi,
 
I contacted you 3 years ago and you responded, we almost concluded but tragedy struck
and took me off the scene for some time My Name is Mark Schmidt; I was dismissed
from Wells Fargo in 2012 because I do some extra deals within the bank.
My sack earned me a two years jail terms and on return a company account
of mine which had $78,000,000.00 in it went dormant.
 
All I am requesting of you is that you present yourself as the owner of my
company & fund to complete the account activation and complete evacuation of
the above mentioned from the account without involving or making reference to me
so that the bank doesn't discover the actual fund owner.
 
I will give you all the details required to make this deal successful.
You can also keep 20% of the fund when the deal is complete and pass the 80%
to me.
 
I will guide you step by step until the deal is completed call me let’s talk:
+1(303)732-3549; I think I can explain better face to face or on call.
 
I will like to chat with you on any of the social media you are conversant
with like yahoo messenger or facebook.
Please help me out
 
Mark Schmid

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