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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. Pim Fortuyn" <reni@bess.co.id>
Reply-To: fpim201@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2023 04:19:32 +0200
Subject: ATTENTION PLEASE

Dear sir,

I am Mrs. Pim Fortuyn, wife to Mr. Pim Fortuyn, was a Dutch politician, academic, author and businessman. My husband was murdered in the Netherlands on 6 May 2002 by loyalists hatchet men from the ruling political party in the country. After his death, our family treasure and assets have been seized by the government with stricter measures placed to make life miserable for me.

Reluctantly, I have relocated to a remote location to escape the attacks from the government. I am writing to you because of our last family deposit in a bank in the Netherlands. I have discussed with the manager who promised to assist me with the money out of the Netherlands bank and asked me to present someone outside the Netherlands to receive this fund for us. The bank said I need to change the account name from my family name to your name so that the government will not dictate it. Please reply to this email so I can direct you to the bank to expedite the process.

Thank you
Mrs. Pim Fortuyn

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