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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: PowerBall Lottery <powerballdonationannoncer@gmail.com>
Reply-To: <valeriearthursmith@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2016 20:37:20 -0700
Subject: YOU HAVE A PERSONAL DONATION OF $429,600 USD FROM THE SMITH FAMILY, THE RECENT WINNER OF OUR $429.6 MILLION JACKPOT LOTTERY.

Greetings,
The recent winner of our Jackpot Lottery has deem it necessary to donate the sum of $429,600 USD each to you and Ninety Nine other lucky beneficiaries, in fulfillment of giving out 10% of their winnings. Mind you, this is not a hoax circulation, contact the family's spokesperson and oldest of the children Valerie Arthur Smith via: valeriearthursmith@gmail.com for more information about this donation and for confirmation of this great news, click the link below;

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2016/05/watch_live_at_3_pm_429m_powerball_winners_step_for.html

Regards,
The PowerBall Donation Announcer.
For The Smith Family.

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