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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: oscar@squirrelmail.org
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2017 15:41:32 +0200 (SAST)
Subject: Thank you for purchasing as an eBay guest

PayPal logo 20-Feb-2017 18:46:07 GMT-05:00
Transaction ID: 20314092XF237653E

Seller
Electronics Cafe
Note to seller
You haven't included a note.
Shipping details
The seller hasn't provided any shipping details yet.

Description Unit price Qty Amount
Lenovo T500 Laptop/Notebook 2.26GHz C2D 2GB DDR3 (B-Grade)
Item# 381871540184
$49.99 USD 1 $49.99 USD
Shipping and handling $48.65 USD
Insurance - not offered ----
Total $98.64 USD
Payment $98.64 USD
This charge will appear on your credit card statement as "PAYPAL *RCRR"
From amount $133.09 CAD
To amount $98.64 USD
Exchange rate: 1 Canadian Dollar = 0.741185 U.S. Dollars
Issues with this transaction?

You have 180 days from the date of the transaction to open a dispute in the Resolution Center

PayPal Email ID PP843 - cb1ae8dab97d0

Anti-fraud resources: