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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: "Mr. Frank Williams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <fred.martins1875@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2017 07:05:29 -0700
Subject: IMPORTANT NOTICE

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

This is our last and final notification to you regarding your payment released. Once again, we are hereby bringing to your notice regarding your payment/fund released and awarded to you by the "UNITED NATIONS" (UN), and in conjunction with the "AFRICAN UNION" (AU). Therefore, you are hereby awarded and entitled to receive sum of Five Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (US$5,500,000.00) as a compensation.

Furthermore, your PAYMENT/FUND has already been forwarded to your PAYMENT AGENT, "MR. FRED MARTINS" therefore you are advise to contact him immediately upon receiving this email in order to claim and receive your fund (US$5.5m) ok. Below is his contact information,

Contact Person: MR. FRED MARTINS.
E-mail Address: fred.martins1875@gmail.com

Yours faithfully,

Mr. Frank Williams.
Co-ordinator/Chairman
Payment Committee.
UN Representatives.

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