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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: "marian abacha" <hma_49@msn.com>
Reply-To: hajiamariam14@sify.com
Date: Mon, 05 Sep 2005 18:33:14 +0000
Subject: Our Intentions.




Dear Beloved,

Due to the sudden death of my husband General Abacha
the former head of state of Nigeria in June 1998, I have been thrown into a state of hopelessness by the present administration.I have lost confidence with anybody within my country.I got your contacts through my daughter browsing the net,and had to reach you through this medium.

I will give you more details when you reply. Due to security network placed on my daily affairs I cant visit the embassy so that is why I have contacted you. My husband deposited $38.6million dollars with a security firm abroad whose name is witheld for now till we communicate. I will be happy if you can receive this funds and keep it safe I assure you 20% of this fund.I will need your full contact details numbers so that we can commence communication. Please expedite action.Check the following links to update you more

http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/2000/27/swiss.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/909972.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_741000/741506.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/211324.stm

Yours,
Hajia Mariam.

Anti-fraud resources: