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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: Bryan Knights <johnsmichealse@pacbell.net>
Reply-To: captknights@sify.com
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:04:47 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Hello




Dear friend,
 
I'm writing you sincerely with regards to seek an assistance fro you which will make us richer and get us together as good friends cos as you very well know, Iraq is gradually undergoing a rebuilding process in some parts and there are much need for reconstruction. I am from the hospitality state of Mississippi, grown in an orphanage home with no brother nor sister and later joined the US Army in 1987. I evaluate the level of destruction and offer professional advice inline with the way they intend rebuilding Iraq. With no doubt, work has been risky and challenging as we sometimes collide head on with armed insurgents and loose some soldiers during confrontation.
 
On the early hours of 4th September 2008 I lost a friend during one of these confrontations whom I have known for 12years. It was a very sad day but at about 11:00hrs during a normal inspection routine along Haifa Street, built and occupied by the late Saddam Hussein while he was still alive and one of the hide outs of the Al Qaeda and Ayman al-Zawahiri forces. I, along side with 2 soldiers proceeded to a marked site and as I commenced evaluation under close guard by the soldiers, I discovered an unusual bulge in a cellar, which I presumed to be storage room and as I proceeded to have a closer look at it, I kicked a metal covering and found several metal boxes (6 in number) Piled on top each other and locked with a padlock. On forcing the boxes open, we discovered several armored weapons including bullets. One of the boxes was filled with hard drugs (heroine) and to my amazement, one out them was filled with money. On discovery of this money, I and the
soldiers for hours counted bundles of the currencies which amounted to about $16.2M. I believe however that all these belongs to the Al Qaeda and Ayman al-Zawahiri forces, and because of this reason, I instructed the soldiers with me to handover all the boxes containing the drugs and amours to our superiors in the US army and agreed to keep the funds to ourselves, so as to help establish ourselves when we return from Iraq. Presently, we have the money hidden in a safe and untraceable location only known to us.
 
I wish to use this money for charity purposes in Turkey, where we have about 3 million Iraqi 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 also invest part of the money on stock fish from Norway to this refugees because base on my experience on battle ground in this 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 illegally from Asians and North Korea it's better channeled to saving the world.

Why I am explaining all our findings to you is to seek for your assistance and immense contribution to the actualization of our dream of getting these funds out from here. I'm in desperate need of a reliable and trustworthy person who will receive, secure and protect this box containing the money for me until my assignment ends here. Since Iraq is getting unsafe and more dangerous everyday, I can't afford to leave this box here in Iraq for any reason and knowing fully well that these were funds used in sponsoring terrorism on our innocent humans. I've no idea what could happen next. This is a true story of what I came across here in Iraq. I intend to include some pictures I took here and my ID's issued by the US army and government for you to know better whom you are also dealing with, but I will include that in my next email cos I wanna be confident that you're really trustworthy and reliable. I assure and promise to give you 30% of this fund and keep
the rest to ourselves when we leave this place. Please assure me of your keeping this top most secret so that my job would not be jeopardized. Please reply to my email: captknights@sify.com

My Sincere Regards,
Bryan Knights

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