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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: Moses Reid <reid77@rediffmail.com>
Reply-To: dr.m72reid@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2012 17:40:53 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Greetings from U.S.A




Sir,



My name is Garry M. Reid, a member of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD); It will interest you to know that I have nominated you as my beneficiary to receive USD$10,000,000 (Ten Million Dollars) which I want to keep safely in your account and or any overseas account under your supervision.



My desire and purpose is to have you invest this US$10,000,000 in any lucrative business in your country and retain the funds until my retirement which is coming-up in the next 3 years.



Bear in mind that this is a legitimate transaction, and the only reason why strict privacy is advised, is that the result of restrictions of the civil service laws in the United States.



Please indicate if you have any profitable business to invest this US$10,000,000 for these 3 years, and let me know the type of business and the profit.



To certify the legitimacy of this message, I will want us to schedule a live one on one WEBCAM chat through SKYPE or MSN to enable us discusses the details of this venture.



Please provide a SKYPE or MSN Messenger ID in a return mail and time to meet you online today or tomorrow.



My SKYPE ID is: garryreid48

MSN/YAHOO MESSENGER: garryreid48

Kindly acknowledge the receipt of this e-mail message at your earliest convenient.

Best regards.



GARRY M. REID

Deputy Assistant Secretary of

Defense for Special Operations & Combating Terrorism

Pentagon, Washington DC, USA

Anti-fraud resources: