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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: "Faith Johnson" <faithlinebox1@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 14:01:20 +0200
Subject: Hello Friend


Hello
I am writing you from Africa and I know you will be surprised to receieve a mail from a stranger=2E=2E=2E=2E
Please=2C don't be surprised=2E=2E=2EI got your contact from a reliable source and decided to share an important
issue with you=2EMy name is Faith Johnson and I am originally from Sierra Leone=2C but do reside in Senegal
I am single=2C 26 years old and I would like you to spare me your time to know and discuss an important issue
with you =2C which in my opinion will be of interest to you and hopefully=2C we would get to know from there
Please confirm the receipt of this short mail and I will getback to you with a more detailed mail about
myself and what I actually want to share with you=2E=2E=2E=2EYou may reach me with through this email=2E
Thanks for your time and hope to hear from you soon=2E=2E=2E
Faith

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