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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: Margaret Muzungu <kellenelle1@yahoo.fr>
Reply-To: margaretmuzungu614@yahoo.fr
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2012 23:25:04 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Hi,




Hi,My name is Sgt. SCOTT  LARRY, serving the World and my country in the most honorable way I know I can, in AFGHANISTAN right now, in a nutshell With a very desperate need for assistance, I found your contact particulars during my email search and picked up courage to contact you for your assistance.Some money in various currencies were discovered in a room at a farm house near one of Osama Bin Lad en’s old house in Kabul-Afghanistan during a rescue operation, I happened to be one of the soldiers that lead that operation that day, so it was agreed by Col. William E. Cole the head of our battalion that some part of this money will be shared among both of us before informing anybody about it since both of us saw the money first. This was quite an illegal thing to do, but I tell you what? No compensation can make up for the risk we have taken with our lives in this hell hole, my brother in-law was killed by a road side bomb just few months ago.Now I
found a very reliable way of sending a trunk metallic box containing the amount of United States Dollars worth Twenty four   Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars 24.5 Million Dollar) as you must agree with me it has been hell on earth trying to keep this money safe from people's eyes for all these while and with this opportunity all I need is just someone capable I can trust 100% I can send the box to.So if you can assure me of your honesty I will go ahead and send the box to you for safe keeping till I am back home and I will gladly give you 40% of the money.If this okay with you please gets back to me with the following so I can get the box across to you. Waiting for your reply Sgt SCOTT LARRY Email

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