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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: Ustin Gavrie <nqhieu@mic.gov.vn>
Reply-To: ustingav@mcom.com
Date: Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:19:39 -0700
Subject: RE:;

Good Day,

Please kindly accept my apology for sending you this email without your consent. I believe you are a highly respected personality, considering the fact that I sourced your email from the peoples search database on the web during my discreet search for a foreign partner whom can assist me in taking this business to it success. Though, I do not know to what extent you are familiar with events. I have a proposal for you. This however is not mandatory nor will I in any manner compel you to honor against your will, but I hope you will read on and consider the value I offer. My name is Mr.Ustin Gavrie, I am the personal assistant to Mikhail Khodorkovsky. I have a business proposal in the tune of US$25m to be transferred to an offshore account with your assistance if willing. After the successful transfer, we shall share in ratio of 30% for you and 70% for me. Should you be interested, please respond to my
letter immediately, so we can commence all arrangements and I will give you more information on the project and how we would handle it.


Truly Yours,
Mr.Ustin Gavrie

Anti-fraud resources: