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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: Maria BOb <mariabob2010@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mariabob480@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2016 13:23:48 +0100
Subject: INVESTMENT

INVESTMENT
You may be surprised to receive my letter, however,I
have decided to contact you for confidential, Urgent
and rewarding joint business.
My name is MARIA Bob was a Personal Assistant
to the
Late Congo President, LAURENT KABILA, who was
assasinated in February
2001 and my aim of writing to you is because of the
need for a
trusted and honest person
if you are interested please reply back
Best Regards,
MARIA Bob

Anti-fraud resources: