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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <donationclaimoffice1@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2017 07:48:33 +0100
Subject: Lucky

This is to inform you that your email has been choosing as part of the winners in the Google search engine and Microsoft lotto promotion. Consequently,you have therefore been approved for a total payout of USD 1,000,000.00 ONE MILLION USD only Your email address emerged along side with 199 others as a category of winner in this 2017 annual draw.Winning Number :MSQ/65-2001-Q1
Claims Agent:Mrs Michelle Kim
Email: donationclaimoffice1@gmail.com
Congratulations once again from all our staffs and thank you for being part of our lucky promotional program 2017.
Best of luck.

Anti-fraud resources: