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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: "LEBAN" (may be fake)
Date: Fri, 3 May 2013 15:21:30 +0530
Subject: DEAR FRIEND

Dear Friend,

I am contacting you for a profitable business which I strongly beleive that
you can handle for me because of your profession. This letter may come to you
as a surprise since it is coming from someone you have not met before and due
to high volume of Spam mail that goes around the world through this means, but
I have no other choice than to send it to you through the internet means,
Therefore, I will appreciate it if you honour it and give me all your trust and
full co-operation.

I am Mr. Santos Leban, the president of a special task force in charge of
the sales of petroleum products. My office monitors the sales and lifting of
crude oil and other petroleum products to foreign dealers.

I successfully moved out some amount of money worth $11M and was deposited
in a security company. I will like you to receive the money on my
behalf as i will make all the arrangement for the bank to transfer the money to
you, because i will like to invest the money in your area of specialisation or
a profitable business.

I will offer you 20% of the principal capital for your assistance and and 5%
will be for any expenses that both of us may incur during this transaction.
Hope to hear from you as soon as you get this mail.

Thanks

Regards,
Mr. Santos Leban

Anti-fraud resources: