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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: "Mahmud Ahmed" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <a.mahmud71@yahoo.ca>
Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2013 19:47:44 -0700
Subject: Investment

Hi,

I am Mr.Mahmud Ahmed from Syria.I am in Thailand at the moment as a political refugee because of the recent problems of my country.
I have a huge sum of money deposited in an offshore bank and I need your urgent help to quickly transfer this money from the present
bank to another bank of your choice in your name for investment in your country to avoid any question concerning the source, it is the
only thing left for me now and I want to start a new life with it. This transaction requires immediate attention because of the current political
situation in my country (Syria) and i do not want to lose this money to the rebels or government.

It is a huge sum of money and I am ready to offer you 30% of the money to stand as the beneficiary and transfer to a new bank account
of your choice. I believe you can help me, but on the contrary please forgive my indulgence and delete this e-mail content without sharing
with anyone.

If you are interested and able to handle this for me in all honesty without any betrayal of trust that I shall repose on you then contact me for
more details.Please note that this transaction is confidential and should be kept in top secret until we have completed the transfer to your appointed account.

Thank you very much for your understanding.

Thanks,

Mr.Mahmud Ahmed.

Anti-fraud resources: