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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: Amanda Alex <josephrevdrgodwin@yahoo.com.ph>
Reply-To: w_moneytransfer1@live.com
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:07:04 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: From Western Union Money Transfer,




 From Western Union Money Transfer,
Attention to you personally:

Are you ready to pick up this $5,000.00 sent today? We have concluded to affect your payment through Western Union$5,000.00 daily until the $1.2 Million is completely transferred. So you are advice to contact the Western Union office Benin with below information;

Western union Agent:.. Dr. Herbert Edward.
E-mail: w_moneytransfer1@live.com
westernunion@Moneytransfer.onmicrosoft.com
Tel: +229 98505114

Though, Dr. Herbert Edward, sent you $5,000.00 in your name today in my presence, so contact him and tell him to give you the MTCN, Sender name with the question and answer to pick up the $5,000.00 and then start transferring your total money to you as I directed them. Finally, to avoid anything happening to the money, I deposited it with an insurance coverage.

Contact them now with your information as stated below.

Your full name...........
Your full address..... ..
Your Phone number......

Thanks,
Mrs. Amanda Alex
>From Western Union Money Transfer

Anti-fraud resources: