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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Antonio R. Arquiza" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <antoquiza57@o2.pl>
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2019 08:32:54 -0800
Subject: Greetings My Friend

Greetings My Friend,
 
Before I introduce myself, I wish to inform you that this letter is not a hoax mail and I urge you to treat it seriously. This letter must come to you as a big surprise, but I believe it is only a day that people meet and become great friends. Please I want you to read this letter very carefully and I must apologize for barging this message into your mail box without any formal introduction due to the urgency and confidentiality of this matter. I make this contact with you as I believe that you can be of great assistance to me.
 
My name is Antonio Ramos Arquiza. I was recently repatriated back to my native country of Colombia from the United States of America due to the present immigration law enforced by President Donald Trump. Before I was deported back to my country, I had the opportunity of working with an influential politician from Egypt who prefers to remain anonymous due to his political status and the illicit corruption law of his country. I helped him to move the sum of US$8.8 million into a bank in the United States with the promise of a 40/60 percent share of the fund once the money successfully got transferred into my account in the United States. The money has been successfully transferred into my account in the United States but, I was repatriated back to Colombia before we made the disbursement according to agreement.
 
Since I am not being able to transact from the account due to my present predicament, I need your assistance to help us move the funds out from the present bank to another account where you will be able to disburse it. My partner has agreed for a new sharing ratio of 20% to you for providing an account, 30% to me while he can do with 50% share of the funds if you can help us out with resolving this matter.
 
Once I receive your consent to this proposal with Your full names, contact address and direct phone number by email, I will instruct my lawyer in the United States to contact you so, he can help to process all the legal documents required to present you as a beneficiary to the funds. The lawyer has been of a great help to us during the process of moving the money from Egypt into the United States. Be assured there will be no legal implications in this matter as my lawyer has procured every required legal document before we were able to move the funds into the United States from Egypt.
 
Thanks for your co-operation as I look forward to receiving your positive response.
 
Yours sincerely,
Antonio Ramos Arquiza.

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