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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: Mrs Rita William <william_rita@rediffmail.com>
Reply-To: ritawilliam16@rocketmail.com
Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2012 22:32:12 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: Dear Good Friend in Christ





Dear Good Friend in Christ
Greetings to you and sorry if this message came to you as a surprise. My name is Mrs. Rita William. a widow, I found your email address through my husband internet dater late Mr. Daniel William,
I am presently admitted at the hospital suffering from a blood cancer and Parkinson diseases. I have some funds at bank inherited from my late husband account the amount of $5,500.000. I wish to know if I can trust you to use the funds for charity project and %10 will go to you as compensation. Kindle get back to me so that I will give you more details.
Yours in Christ,
Mrs.Rita William.

Anti-fraud resources: