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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: "Amina Idris" <a_2004@she.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: aminatari@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 17:19:39 +0700
Subject: INVESTMENT NEGOTIATION

Sir,
I know how surprised you were to have received my mail. Please know that I am really in need of your help.
The issue here is that I need someone like you to help me put into meaningful investment some huge sum of money in my possession.
I will like to know you better and as such I will like you to send me some sort of identification so that I can ascertain who I will be entrusting so much money to. I am open to your suggestions in line with this investment.
Please feel free to reply me as soon as you get this mail.
I will really like to hear from you.
Sincerely
Amina Idris



Anti-fraud resources: