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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: "Mr. Bruno Fernandez." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrbrunofernandezz@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2015 05:35:34 -0200
Subject: Re: Reply Only If You Accept The Offer.

My friend indeed,
 
My name is Mr. Bruno Fernandez. I am a retired banker of  Barclay's bank in London UK,
I do not want problems but I just hope you can assist me, i write you this letter in good faith, I have a transaction of Two Million Four Hundred  Thousand United States Dollars ($2.4 Million Dollars).
I realized this fund from a foreign client from your country who was among the victims of a car accident that crashed on the 31-10-2008 in old Stafford Road but since then we have not had anybody coming for the claims as next of kin.
 
Finally I did not declare this fund to the bank before my retirement. I am contacting you, to stand as the next of kin to this customer only a foreigner can stand as the next of kin because she is from your country, can i trust you to hold this money for me until i come over to your country? After the transfer, i will give you 40% of the money as your commission.
If you accept my offer, but if you do not accept this offer kindly forget that I contacted you, all i need is for you to get a good account where this fund can be transferred into and for you to stand as the next of kin of the said amount; within three days the funds will be transferred to your designated bank account.
There are practically no risks involved; it will be a bank-to-bank transfer. I hope you understand my situation, i am critically ill that is why i contacted you to finalize this transaction to enable me have a very good treatment.
May god bless you and your family. I wait your urgent reply
 
Happily regards,
Mr. Bruno Fernandez.

Anti-fraud resources: