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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: "SMITH PORTA" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <smithporta551@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2017 19:09:50 +0100
Subject: URGENT ASSISTANT NEEDED TO SELL 117KG OF GOLD

Hello,

I apologize for sending this email to you without your permission, it is the need for an urgent assistance
that brought me to you though we have not met face to face, but am hoping that we can be able to
transact in a good mind and trust.

My name is Captain Smith Porta, I am currently serving in Kabul Afghanistan for the USA Army.

I need your help in selling of 117 KG of Gold.

I will give you more information if you are interested and when I receive your reply with the following
information:

1) Your full name
2) Date of Birth
3) Occupation
4) Contact Phone Number
5) Home Address
6) Marital Status
7) Experience in Gold business?


I need to forward the above information to my agent, who will brief you more and call you because I
am still in active service and I can not be able to write to you freely because of my job.

Kindly ignore this email, if you are not interested.

Thank you.

Captain Smith Porta.

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