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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: adadu as <adadui2@msn.com>
Reply-To: <sannohassociate@googlemail.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:04:23 +0000
Subject: RE: Investment enquiry



17/2/2009Dear Sir, Best compliments of the season. I have a good client who wants to invest
overseas in your country with about US$12.5M. My client is a retired General
in the Liberian army and he needs protection for his investment.If you can handle such a huge sum of investment please get back to me as
soon as possible to discuss, for example the investment plan and agreement
procedure. Kindly reply with your business profile to enable us advises our client
accordingly. Your telephone/fax contacts are also important for easy
communication. Regards.Adadu .A Sannoh

Anti-fraud resources: