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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: "Claim Card Payment" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <eft@mail2winner.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2017 19:20:10 +0200
Subject: Claim $2 million USD, From Visa Atm Award/ wbfr2017

Kindly open The attached documents to view your claiming info Notice: This e-mail message and any attachments contain confidential information and are solely for the confidential use of the > intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient, please do not read this message or any attachments. The unauthorized > distribution or dissemination of this message, its attachments, or any information herein is strictly prohibited. If you have > received this message by mistake, please notify us immediately by return e-mail and promptly delete this message and any attachments > from your computer system

Anti-fraud resources: