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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: mrsclariortiz@rcweb.net
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:35:11 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Thanks For Contributing To Our Financial Success

Dear Esteemed Winner,

Your email address has just won the Sum £1,000,000.00 GBP in the Yahoo!New
Year Promotions. Your Are to send Your Full Names, Tel, Contact Address,
Age, Occupation And Amount Won to the remittance director through the below
contact: Yahoo! UK 44 Moorfields London EC2Y 9AL UNITED KINGDOM

Mrs Clari Ortiz
E-mail: mrsclariortiz@live.co.uk
Tel: +4470-2403-4853
Yahoo! Promotion Award Team

Congratulations once again, from all members of staff and thank you for
being part of our promotions program.Also call for claim as soon you get
this mail.

Your Sincerely,
Reynolds,Debora

Anti-fraud resources: