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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. Susan Kay" <susan.kay32@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: mrjackbrown1@yahoo.cn
Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 05:34:13 +0200 (CEST)
Subject:

NB:In regards to the raffle draw held this month May 2010,the
yahoo/msndirectors and organizers has given £200,000.00 britain {cash
prize} to theactive users of the internet/web.you were lucky to be one of
thewinners(2nd).you are to provide your details to this company with
yourName,Address,occupation,sex,Phone number,country as soon as you
receivethis email to the head of events Mr jack brown for documentation
andrecord purposes.email:mrjackbrown1@yahoo.cn

Anti-fraud resources: