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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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Fraud email example:

From: "Zak Peter" <mrpz54@netscape.net>
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 09:06:24 +0300
Subject: Hi!

Hi,

Dear Friend,
Greetings to you and your family in the name of God. In my search for a
reliable and God fearing person and having gotten your contact through
prayers and painstaking efforts I have decided to seek your help in carrying
out my last wishes.
My name is Mr. Peter Zak.I'm a 47 years old man and a British lcitizen
iving in St. Petersburg (Russia Federation). I was a merchant and owned two
businesses in St.Peters. I was also married with two children.
My wife and two children died in a car accident six years ago. Before this
happened my business and concern for making money was all I live for. I
never really cared about other values in life.
But since the lost of my family, I have found a new desire to assist
helpless families. I have been helping orphans in orphanage/motherless
homes. I have also donated some money for humanitarian
needs in Sudan, South Africa, Cameroon, Brazil, Spain, Austria, Germany and
some Asian countries. Only recently I saw on television the colossal loss of
properties and livelihood, people in Canberra,
Australia through fire and the Indian ocean tsunami. I was moved with great
pity and compassion that I decided to make some contribution towards
assisting people over there before I fell ill, I kept $15 million in a
long-term deposit
account with a finance company.
Presently, I'm in a hospital where I have been undergoing treatment for
oesophagi cancer. I have since lost my ability to talk and my doctors have
told me that
I have only few months to live. It is my last wish to see this money
distributed to victims of the fire outbreak in Australia, Earthquake Victims
and other charity organization.
Because my relatives and friends have plundered so much of my wealth since
my illness, I cannot live with the agony of entrusting this huge
responsibility to any of them. Please,
I beg you in the name of God to help me collect the deposit and the
interest accrued from the company and distribute it accordingly. Use your
judgment to distribute the money and keep 10% of it to yourself.
Feel free to reimburse yourself when you have the money for any cost you
incur during the process of collecting and distributing the money. And don't
forget to collect the money you spend at the
finance company while getting the money. If you are willing to help, please
reply as soon as you can.
May the good lord bless you and your family.
Regards,
Peter Zak


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