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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: "Azaz, Syria" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <rosetam00@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2016 07:44:51 +0100
Subject: Greetings To You

Hello dear,
 
 
 
Greetings from Syria!!
 
 
I am Hala Basil (Widow) from Aleppo Syria but now living in Syrian city of Azaz near the Syria–Turkey border.
 
 
 
Why I'm contacting you is to know if you can assist me secure my future and help me move out of Syria. I need your
assistance to transfer funds left behind by my late husband to you in order to enable you assist me leave Syria as I
don't know how much longer I can survive here. As a Syrian Christian, we have nowhere in the Middle East were we can
go to be wholly free of persecution. Even before the war started, we Syrian Christians are disowned by Our Fatherland.
 
 
My husband was killed in the Battle of Aleppo in October 2015 after the Syrian government forces and its allies
launched their large-scale southern Aleppo offensive.
 
 
I will give more details when you respond and please send reply to my personal email
 
Kind regards,
 
 
Hala Basil
Azaz, Syria
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