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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: "samuel petter" <samuel05pett@gmail.com>
Reply-To: samuel01pett@ymail.com
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:39:06 +0100
Subject: investment assistance


*I am Mr Samuel Petter, a financial consultant based in Burkina Faso. I have
a client (a widow)
she has USD15.5M with a private equity investment trust
company for
safe keeping .

She wishes to invest in a stable economy
Her interest is in companies with potentials for rapid growth in long
terms projects.

My client is interested in placing part of her fund in your
company,if your country's by-laws allows foreign investment.
You can contact me for more details via my e-mail address with your
reference.

Yours faithfully,
Mr Samuel Petter*

Anti-fraud resources: