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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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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Sally" <sallywass@gmail.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: sallywas@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2008 23:28:08 +0000
Subject: LOVE IS THE ANSWER

Hi,
i am Sally Silver 19 yrs old from Sierra Leon and i live in Senegal,i deceided having you as a friend knowing that it is in act of expressing or sharing view with one another or people around the world,i feel that before we can have a good relationship we must put in our energy and time since it is one of the most impotant buolding blocks of a good relationship,to me friends are like flowers in the garden of life,my desire is to meet a sensitive,warm and charming man who wants a friend.
yours sincerely
Sally.


Anti-fraud resources: