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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: "Sgt. David Thomson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sgt._david_thomson1@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2011 23:26:11 -0400
Subject: Hello

Hi ,
 
 
My name is Sgt. David i am a citizen of the United States serving the World and my country in the most honorable way i know i can, in IRAQ right now, in a nutshell, I am a American soldier serving in the Military with the Army 3rd infantry division. With a very desperate need for assistance, i found your contact particulars during my email search and picked up courage
to contact you for your assistance.
 
Some money in various currencies were discovered in a room at a farm house near one of Saddam's old palaces in Tikrit-Iraq during a rescue operation, i happened to be one of the soldiers that lead that operation that day, so it was agreed by Brigadia General Edward Ballanco the head of our batallion that some part of this money will be shared among both of us before informing anybody about it since both of us saw the money first. This was quite an illegal thing to do, but I tell you what? No compensation can make up for the risk we have taken with our lives in this hell hole, my brother in-law was killed by a road side bomb just few months ago, and i cannot count how many times GOD has saved my life down here. I would like you to read the below article so you can confirm what i am saying.
 
http://www.voanews.com/burmese/archive/2003-04/a-2003-04-20-1-1.cfm
 
 
Now i found a very reliable way of sending a trunk mettallic box containing the amount of United States Dollars worth Twelve Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars(US$ 12,500 Million) as you must agree with me it has been hell on earth trying to keep this money safe from peoples eyes for all these while and with this opportunity all i need is just someone capable I can trust 100% i can send the box to.
 
So if you can assure me of your honesty i will go ahead and send the box to you for safe keeping till i am back home and i will gladly give you 50% of the money.
 
If this okay with you please get back to me with the following so i can get the box accross to you.
 
 
1. Your full name
2. Contact address
3. Telephone number.
Waiting to hear from you.
Yours in Service.
Sgt. David Thomson
US ARMY

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