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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: "Aaron Clayton" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <aaronclayton8@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2011 10:52:25 -0800
Subject: Hello

I am Mr.Aaron Clayton,a computer scientist working with all international networking bank in
 
Ghana. I just started work here and I came across your file which was marked X and your
 
released disk painted RED, I took time to study it and found out that you have paid VIRTUALLY
 
all fees and but the fund was not released to you.
The most annoying thing is that they won't tell you the truth that on no account will they ever
 
release the fund to you, instead they allow you spend money unnecessarily, I do not intend to
 
work here all the days of my life, I can release this fund to you if you can certify me of my
 
security.
I needed to do this because you need to know the status of your funds and cause for the delay,
 
the only thing needed to release this fund is to follow my instructions which will be tendered
 
to any of your nominated bank and the INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE (IRS) for clearance of the
 
transferred amount in your account.
Note that the actual funds are valued at $15.5 MILLION USD and the president made a
 
compensation fund release for all unpaid beneficiary valued at $10 million.
 
Do get in touch with me immediately with my direct number +233-272383857 to conclude this
 
final transaction immediately. Furnish me with the bellow information if you are interested in these.
 
1,Your Full Name:
2,Your Address:
3,Phone And Fax Number:
4,Age and Sex:
5,Country:
 
Regards,
Aaron Clayton.

Anti-fraud resources: