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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: hallmark_bk@yahoo.fr
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:33:14 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: =?utf-8?B?SW52ZXN0aXRpb25zYW5nZWJvdOKAj+KAjw==?=


Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

Mein Name ist Frau Joy Kapeng aus der Budesrepublik der Congo.
Ich habe die Summe von USD12.6millionen von meinem verstorbenen Ehemann geerbt.Und das Geld ist momentan in der Sicherheitfirma fuer sicheres Behalten.Nun,mochte ich das Geld in Ihrem Land per Ihre Hilfe anlegen weil, es bei uns immernoch politische Unruehe gibt.Ich werde mich freuen wenn Sie mir helfen koennen.Ich werde Ihnen auch mehr Einzelheiten mitteilen gleich nach Ihrer Antwort!

Mit freundlichen Gruessen,
Frau Joy Kapeng 

Anti-fraud resources: