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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: =?UTF-8?B?SkhTwqA=?=<email@batteryimporter.com.au>
Date:
Subject:

Dear redacted@domain.name,

I have contacted you in good faith. My name is James Harry, I am a Solicitor based in London. I am contacting you because you share the same last name with a deceased client of mine who died a few years ago. He left behind huge bank deposits with no will or testament. The bank has requested that I present any of his relatives to claim his money otherwise it will be declared as unclaimed and confiscated.

It is my plan therefore to present you to the bank as a family relation to my late client so that his deposit can be transferred to you legally by evidence of the fact that you both share the same last name. I will be able to make this presentation possible and will guide you all the way until his funds are released to you. We shall be sharing the proceeds of this claim equally if you accept to work with me. I will share more details with you upon your positive response to my email on redacted@domain.name

Please kindly treat my email as confidential and if my message offends your moral values then you may delete my email and forget I ever contacted you.

Best Wishes,
James Harry Esq.

Anti-fraud resources: