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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: "Andrew Hales" <andleverett@gmail.com>
Reply-To: bbandrewhales@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 11 May 2015 17:31:00 +0200
Subject: THIS IS URGENT/FOR YOUR PERUSAL

Good day,

I am Mr. Andrew Hales; I work in the Powerball Lotto. I am soliciting your assistance for a swift transfer of 7,744,528.12 USD, should you be willing to assist me in this project, and you will be giving me just 25% of your winnings.

Just as a brief, you just have to register online; due to my position in the company I can make it happen that you would be a winner of the above stated amount. Naturally, every body would like to play a lottery if they are assured of winning. I am assuring you today to be a winner, please do not take for granted this once in a life time opportunity as we both stand to collectively gain from this at the success of the transaction.

Should you be willing to assist me in this transaction please do respond to

E-mail: hhalesbband@gmail.com or bbandrewhales@gmail.com
Regards,

Andrew Hales

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