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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: PRINCESS VIVIANAN CEO MADU & SONS LTD <princessvivianan_madu@virgilio.it>
Reply-To: princess.vivianan@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 05:46:57 +0100 (GMT+01:00)
Subject: FROM PRINCESS VIVIANAN MADU.


FROM PRINCESS VIVIANAN MADU.

GREETINGS

THIS IS A PERSONAL MAIL FROM
ME AND IT SHOULD BE FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, KINDLY DISCARD IT IF YOU ARE
NOT CAPABLE OF HANDLING IT WITH ME.

CAN YOU INVEST $20,000,000.00
(TWENTY MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS) THAT WILL BE UNDER YOUR
CONTROL IN YOUR COUNTRY? THIS AMOUNT WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO YOUR
PERSONAL ACCOUNT AS SOON AS I RECEIVE YOUR REPLY INDICATING YOUR
INTEREST AND ABILITY TO HANDLE THIS

THIS FUND IS CLEAN AND IT IS NOT
RELATED TO MONEY LAUNDERING, TERRORISM AND DRUG PLEASE IF YOU ARE
INTERESTED IN TRANSACTING BUSINESS WITH US, WE WILL BE VERY GLAD.
PLEASE, FORWARD TO US THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION’S,

1 YOUR NAME AND
ADDRESS
2 YOUR OCCUPATION AND POSITION IN YOUR COMPANY
3 TELEPHONE,
CELL PHONE AND FAX NUMBER

CONTACT US VIA EMAIL FOR MORE INFORMATION
THANK YOU AS WE AWAIT YOUR FURTHER RESPONSE.
IN TRUST AND GOOD FAITH

PRINCESS VIVIANAN (CEO),

MADU & SONS LTD

Anti-fraud resources: