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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: cp <acpraz@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:57:48 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Good Day....




Good Day
 
I am writing to seek your cooperation over this business, please kindly welcome this letter
 
Greetings to you and your family. I am Mr.Zaki Abdu, auditing and accounting manager, Bank of Africa Ouagadougou Burkina Faso . I need your assistance in transferring the sum of (US$6.5M) Six million , five hundred thousand united dollars into your account within 8 to 10 banking days.
 
This account belongs to one of our foreign customer by name, Mr. Alan Williams who died along with his entire family in a plane crash in the year oct 2005. You can view the link below for more details:
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/tanzania/1501084/
Tycoon-dies-with-family-in-Tanzania-safari-plane-crash.html
 
I agree that 40% of this money will be for you in respect of the provision of a foreign account, and 60% would be for me. Thereafter, I will visit your country for disbursement according to the percentage indicated. Reply me if you are interested and I will furnished you with details information as soon as I get your response.
 
Best Regards
 
Mr.Zaki Abdu


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