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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: "Anthony Brooke" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <anthonybrooke424@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 11 May 2018 21:48:28 -0700
Subject: Dear Friend

Dear Friend
 
I am Mr. Anthony Brooke, a banker in South Africa. I am contacting you to assist in the claim of some outstanding sum of money, which was left by one of our customer who died in an AF4590 plane crash. You can take time and verify from the website as shown herein for confirmation of the crash,
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
 
 
He left No known next of kin and all our attempts to trace someone related to him to whom we could pay the money proved abortive. I have now personally decided to contact you to stand on behalf of the family so I can present you as his next of kin using my influence as a Manager of this bank.
 
I shall send you more details upon the receipt reply to my proposal.
 
Regards,
Anthony Brooke

Anti-fraud resources: