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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: Mercy William <williamm52@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2011 12:41:04 -0800 (PST)
Subject: I am mercy, from Rwanda, nice meeting you


Hello Dear,

Compliments of the week,i am interested to know you and be friendly with you, i got your contact from dan.tobias.name,
i
am a good looking young girl,I would appreciate if we can get to know
one another better, kindly reply me and I will send you my picture.
I will tell you more about me,i am look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely,
   Miss Mercy

Anti-fraud resources: