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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: "Mr. Hashim Uddin Ahmed" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <hashimuddina@ibibo.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:56:50 +0200
Subject: US$28.5Million Business Proposal

Dear Sir, I write to appeal for your co-operation to enable us secure on your behalf a t r a n s f e r of US$28.5Million contract amount from the central b a n k offshore to your b a n k account. THE SOURCE: Early last year, some contracts were awarded to a foreign firm for the repair and construction of oil refineries. The real contract value was US$91.5Million, but we over estimated the contract to the tune of US$120Million. Now the contract balance of US$28.5Million, which was the profit we envisaged is been left in an offshore account in Europe. All we require is your willingness as a foreigner to co-operate with us to enable us t r a n s f e r the m o n e y to your b a n k account as our indebted contractor. We have agreed that you take 25% of the entire funds, while 75% will be for us. Please reply me back with your direct contact telephone number, so my colleague will contact you for more details. Much Regards, Mr. Hashim

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