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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.Phallan Heng" <phallanheng@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2015 10:17:50 +0700
Subject: COMPLIMENT

I am Mr. Phallan Heng. I am sorry for this interruption. I have no other
way to reach you than these ways, please accept my apology.I am an account
manager to one of our foreign late customer. It is my interest to contact
you in respect of this our client who opened a draft account in my bank. It
is with good spirit of heart I opened up this great opportunity to you.
This deceased client of mine shares almost the same name as yours; He died
as a result of heart-related condition on 14 of November 2011.His heart
condition was due to the death of all the members of his family in the
fukushima earthquake and tsunami disaster on the March 11, 2011 in
northeastern Japan where they all lost their lives.

After his death, I sent a routine notification to his forwarding address,
but got no reply. He died without making any will. His draft account opened
in my bank before his unfortunate death is $28,526,200.00 Dollars Only. I
want to present you as the beneficiary of the deceased. I will use my
position and influence in our bank to make sure they release this money to
you for our mutual sharing. If I wait for days and did not hear from you, I
shall look for another person.

Kindly get back to me for more details.

Mr. Phallan Heng

Anti-fraud resources: