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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: Ellise Williams <williamelis@yandex.ru>
Reply-To: elliswilliam@gala.net
Date: Wed, 4 May 2011 06:25:03 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Dear friend, we wish to import your products.

Good day,

May I introduce myself to you. I am Ellis William. I humbly seek your consent for a transaction that will be of mutual benefit.
Briefly about the transaction: I have a client who inherited an amount of Twenty Million, five hundred Thousand United State Dollars (20.5M$) from his late father. Now for obvious reasons which I tell you later, my client now needs help from a neutral but trusted person (which I presume you are) to safeguard the money for subsequent investment purpose. I know you will wonder about it but don't worry, when I give you full details, you will understand better. Also we are reliably informed that you are seafood exporter, so we can go into importation of your product in large quantity to our country

For your anticipated help, you will be compensated with 20% and also we hope to establish a lasting business relationship with you thereafter which you will as well be entitled to periodical compensation as we shall agree upon.

It may interest you to note that the proposed transaction is legally backed up and very easy, so with your maximum co-operation I assure you that we shall conclude it within two weeks.
Please do confirm your interest and immediately I will give you the full details. You should also include your phone number as you reply.

On behalf of my client, thanks and God bless as I look forward to your kind consideration.

Yours faithfully,

Ellise William Esq


Anti-fraud resources: