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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: "MARK ZUCKERBERG" (may be fake)
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2017 09:25:34 -0700
Subject: IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION


FACEBOOK ONLINE PROMO 2017
FROM: THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT.
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD

Congratulations Dear Facebook user,

Your Name and Email has been verified as a winner from the ongoing Facebook online promotion 2017.
An official mail was sent to you earlier but no response.
Kindly respond with your current phone number for more details.

Yours Faithfully,
Max Lowry.
Facebook Disbursement Department.

Anti-fraud resources: