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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: "Silvia Eva Oland" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <independentm63@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2016 16:24:30 -0800
Subject: Hello And Merry Christmas From Silvia in Sweden!!

Hello Friend,
 
In case you're wondering, I'm Silvia Eva Oland and I'm Swede. I found your email contact while surfing the Internet. I don't think you have a clue but my reason for writing you is to seek your friendship! Just being adventurous and decided to use this letter as a resource tool to get your attention.As a matter of fact, I've been wanting to try this a while now to chat, to ask you things, to comment on trivial matters or even to talk a bit about each other. But I've been clueless on how to go about it. Maybe you find it strange that I'm using something as cold as this means to reach you. But this is the best I can do for now.
 
In short: the purpose of this letter is just to ask you if you want to be my friend. And if you agree, just say yes and we can take it on from there.
 
I look forward to hear hearing from you.
 
Yours Silvia.

Anti-fraud resources: