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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: euroclaimsdepartment@live.com
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:54:59 -0800
Subject: Mr Harris has forwarded a page to you from conversantlife.com

Mr Harris thought you would like to see this page from the conversantlife.com web site.
Message from Sender:

Good Day, In reference to the Lottery Winning Notification letter sent to you on the 20th of November 2009, I hereby write to inform you that we still have not heard from you in claiming your Win of the Euro Million Lottery, held on the 6th of November 2009. We would like you to know that this would be the last notification,requesting you to claim your win of the lottery to the sum of GBP £1.800.000.00 (ONE MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS). We would like you to immediately contact your agent,Mr Mark Harris via email:euroclaimsdepartment@live.com. Looking forward to hearing from you in due time. Best Regards, Sir Philip Lloyd (VICE PRESIDENT)


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