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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: "Willson" (may be fake)
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2015 12:10:54 -0700
Subject: Hello

Dear Friend,
My name is Tracey Wilson, a banker by profession, I contacted you about $ 8 million left in the account of my late client , a citizen of your country, who died in a terrible car accident with his wife and two children 3 April 2009, without writing will want to stand as his beneficiary / family because you both share the same surname. The fund has been floating and if we do not remove it immediately, it will be frozen by the government as unclaimed fund, after the operation, you must earn 50% of the total funds, while I will get 50%. I will give you all the important information and explanations as soon as I hear from you, create a new e-mail on Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo Mail, and use it to respond to my personal e-mail (wilson_tracy79@yahoo.com.sg), so we can discuss . Because sometimes mail.ru can not deliver the letter here. There is a happy day. With best wishes
Sincerely,
Ms. Tracy Wilson

Anti-fraud resources: