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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: "Richard Magdonald" <Ebay@pyfencingsupplies.com.au>
Reply-To: richardmagdonald@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2018 01:59:07 -0800
Subject: URGENT!!!


Good day,

I am making this contact with you in good faith, my name is Staff sergeant Richard Magdonald, i am a US Army personnel serving in the 100th Battalion/442nd Infantry Regiment in Syria. I am desperately in need of assistance and I have summoned up courage to contact you. I am presently in Syria and I am seeking your assistance to evacuate the sum of $12,700,000 (Twelve million Seven Hundred Thousand US dollars) to your country as far as I can be assured that it will be safe in your care until I complete my service here. This is no stolen money and there are no dangers involved.

SOURCE OF MONEY: Some cash, mostly 100 Dollar bills was discovered and concealed in barrels with piles of weapons and ammunition at a location near one of President Assad's old Presidential Palaces during a rescue operation and it was agreed by all parties present that the money be shared amongst us. This might appear as an illegal thing to do but I tell you what? No compensation can make up for the risks we have taken with our lives in this hellhole. The above figure was given to me as my share and to conceal this kind of money became a problem for me since i'm still in active sevice, so with the help of a German contact working with the UN here (his office enjoys some immunity), i was able to get the package out to a safe location entirely out of trouble spot. He does not know the real contents of the package as he believes that it belongs to an American who died in an air raid, who before giving up the ghost trusted me to hand over the package to his close relative. I have now found a secured way of getting the package out of Syria for you to pick up. I plan on using a Diplomatic Courier Service and shipping the money out in one Large Silver Box, using Diplomatic Immunity.

I wish to use this money for charity purposes in Turkey, where we have about 3 million Iraqi and Syrian refugees and Sudan where we have currently the highest numbers of refugees displaced as a result of war. You need to visit such places. I want to invest the money on stock fish from Norway to these refugees because based on my experience on battle ground in these places, they lack a lot of fish and meat to add to their meager and unpalatable meals which they get in little quantity just to keep them living until God knows when the problem ends. Instead of allowing this terrorists to get the money and spend it on purchasing arms from Russia, it is better channeled to saving the world.

Where we are now we have only our military communication facilities which is not secured for a telephone conversation, so i prefer writing to you where nobody can monitor our emails, then I can explain in details to you. I can only reach you through email, because our calls might be monitored, I just have to be sure whom I am dealing with.

If you are interested, i will send you the full details, I need to find a good partner that i can trust and that will assist me. Can i trust you? When you receive this letter, kindly send me an e-mail signifying your interest or readiness to receive this Box. The Box can be shipped out in 48hrs.

Your quick response will be highly appreciated and thanking you in anticipation of your cooperation.

Respectfully submitted,
Sgt. Richard Magdonald





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