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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: "Jim Flynn" <JFlynn@brophyprep.org>
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:26:07 -0700
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS WINNING NOTIFICATION


THE WESSCO LOTTERY
This is to notify you that You have won £552,000 pounds
Sterling.from WESSCO LOTTERY,you should count yourself extremely lucky to have
emerged as one of our winners in this year lucky dip sweepstakes.email
address was randomly selected along with others from over 200,000
website on the internet of which your email address was one of them.
Contact :Mrs Peyton Owen Email:
peytonowen_claims@hotmail.com

Coordinator. Jim Flynn

Anti-fraud resources: