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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. MARTIN BUMA" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mbuma115@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2016 17:00:53 -0700
Subject: DEAR FRIEND!!!

I am Martin Buma a banker by profession, our late customer gold trader was involved in a terrible car accident hear in Accra Ghana and died without next of kin, he left his deposit inheritance fund of US$9.4 Million Dollars with our bank. I want to stand you as the beneficiary/next of kin to receive the fund and you will take 50% as reward. I therefore request you to confirm your interest by a return message via my email address ( mbuma5252@gmail.com ) and I will furnish you with more details.
 
Best regards,
 
Martin Buma

Anti-fraud resources: