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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: "MELVIN SHARPE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <melvinsharpe@emailclick.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:23:18 +0100
Subject: GENUINE OFFER FOR YOU

Hello, You have been invited to run a survey on all Western Union Money Transfer Agent Location in your area that will be assigned to you. The objective of this assignment will be to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of a payment system called “Western Union Money Transfer "which is available in your region. Western Union Agent location was reported for evaluation of the following reasons: • Slow and Poor Customer services. • Rudeness and agents inefficiency to customers. • High Transfer charge. • Late opening and early closing Hours. Your Customer Service Evaluation Requirement would be: • You will go into a “Western Union Money Transfer Outlet" as a potential customer. • You are required to make use of the Money Transfer and Quick Collect services to make a Western Union Money Transfer. • You are required to send in a detail report of the Time it took you to get the "Money Transfer made" from the time of arrival at any of the Agent Location listed to you. • A Confirmation of the Western Union Money Transfer fee. • You are required to forward back to us a detailed copy of the Western Union Transfer Detail as soon as the assignment completed at any of the Agent Location assigned to you. • A scanned copy of the Western Union Money Transfer Receipt is required to be mailed back to us for confirmation. The funds needed to complete this assignment have been arranged and would be sent out to you via a UPS/FedEx Express Mail service. • You will be paid $200.00 per assessment carried out. If Interested, we request you, Please fill out our shopper profile below for immediate consideration, to enable us make out payment and for payment delivery. • Full Name: • Contact Address (P.O. Box Not Required): • City, State, Zip Code: • Phone Number(s): • Age: • Email Address: • Occupation: All reply should be e-mailed to : melvinsharpe@emailclick.com P:S After you have emailed your information to us, You should endeavor to check your email 2-3 times in a day to read updates from us. Thank you and we look forward to working with you. Regards, Melvin Sharpe Hiring Manager Stuart Survey/Evaluator Consultant

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