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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: Grace Robert <grace_rbert476@msn.com>
Reply-To: <grace_rbertt24@hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 7 Mar 2009 13:49:43 +0000
Subject: I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE



ATTENTION:

I AM GRACE ROBERT FROM ZIMBABWE.I AM WRITING TO SEEK YOUR HIGHLY ESTEEMED HELP/CONSENT IN A LASTING BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP OF MUTUAL BENEFIT, INVOLVING $9 MILLION USD FOR INVESTMENT IN YOUR COMPANY/COUNTRY UNDER A JOINT VENTURE PARTNERSHIP.

FOR DETAILS OF THE TRANSACTION AND SOURCE OF FUND,REPLY FOR MORE INFORMATION.

WAITING FOR YOUR EARLIEST RESPONSE.

BEST REGARDS.

GRACE ROBERT.

Anti-fraud resources: