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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: "2015-09-12 10:28:38" <chenyan@sasatoku.com.cn>
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2015 10:28:49 +0800
Subject: =?utf-8?B?5LqkIOmAmiDpk7Yg6KGMIOaBrSDllpwg5oKoIOiOtyDlvpcg55m+IA==?=
=?utf-8?B?5YWDIOWkpyDnpLwg5YyF?=

尊敬的先生/女士：
    您好恭喜您获得交通银行信用卡中心为您发送的100元红包领取资格！ 
    如您从未持有过任何交通银行信用卡主卡，可通过交通银行信用卡网站在线递交申请，成功核发信用卡后，即可获赠100元刷卡金奖励。还可享受免费快递寄卡。
  欢迎登录交通银行信用卡网站 creditcard.bankcomm.com
  交通银行无论何时都不会向您发送电子邮件询问或确认您的私人数据，包括信用卡账户号码、网上账户密码、
账户余额、身份证号码或护照号码等等。

Anti-fraud resources: