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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Martins Donald" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <martins.donald@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2014 18:28:08 +0100
Subject: RE: PLEASE KINDLY READ AND REPLY ME.

Hello Friend.
  
     Am Mr.Martins Donald, a retired banker, writing you in regards of the sum of
 
Six million Euros floating in a dormant account that belongs to my late
 
client who died without no beneficiary to the account.
 
    I will like this fund to be transferred into your account as the next of
 
kin of the deceased because the money will automatically go into
 
government treasury at the end of this year if I could not locate any of
 
the relative of my late client to come up and claim the fund. In receipt
 
of this fund in your account you and me will share the money; 45% to me,
 
40% to you, and 15% will be donated to the Tsunami Disaster Charity
 
Fund. After that i would love my share to be invested in a real estate.
 
    Please contact me at once to indicate your interest to my email. I
 
will like you to acknowledge the receipt of this e-mail as soon as possible.This
transaction will be treated private with absolute confidentiality and sincerity.
 
    All I require is your consent, honest co-operation.
 
If you are willing to assist me on this proposal therefore go ahead and fill the below information;
 
FULL NAME...........
ADDRESS.............
AGE.................
SEX.................
OCCUPATION..........
TELEPHONE/FAX NUMBER......
 
Yours Faithfully.
Mr.Martins Donald
martins.donald@hotmail.com

Anti-fraud resources: