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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: "Mrs. Phillipa Zietsman" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <phillipazietsman99@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2017 16:15:54 -0700
Subject: Urgent Response Needed

Dear Friend,

My name is Mrs. Phillipa Zietsman, I got your contact through YOUR COUNTRY’S BUSINESS DIRECTORY on my desperate search for an honest person to assist me then I decided to contact you. I have a business proposal for you which involves a huge amount of money that run into millions of US dollars that i want to move or transfer to your country for safe keeping and investment, please this is not a spam, its a real business that will benefit both of us. Please try as much as possible to get back to me on this, i will explain more to you when you finally respond.

Yours truly,
Mrs. Phillipa Zietsman

Anti-fraud resources: