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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: =?utf-8?q?Dr=2E_Abdullah_Al=2DThani?= <drabdlatha@rayana.ir>
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2018 23:15:50 +0100
Subject: =?utf-8?q?I_wait_to_hear_from_you_for_more_details=2E?=

Dear Sir/ Madam,
 
It's really nice to come across your e-mail contact from International Business Directory, then i decided to contact you hoping that meeting you here will be a good step for a beautiful future business relationship and Partnership under your management.
 
I am Dr. Abdullah al-Thani, from LIBYA; I was Former Minister of Defense and Prime Minister of Libya. I resigned as Prime Minister on 11 August 2015 after I escaped an assassination attempt by gunmen, after my resignation i ran down to London, United Kingdom for security reason.
 
Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/26/africa/libyan-prime-minister-assassination-attempt/index.html
 
Furthermore, due to the problems in my country Libya, I find it necessary to diversify my investments outside my country to safe guard against the future of my family. Meanwhile, I am contacting you to seek for your assistant in transferring my deposited fund amounting Twenty million United States Dollars ($20.000, 000.00 which i am planning to invest under your management in your country, when I come over after you have confirmed the fund under your custody.
 
For me, I have the following investment plan for your consideration;
 
(1) Real Estate Business, (2) Travel & Tourism, (3) Hotel Management.
 
Please if you have another profitable business plan I may be interested to invest in your country, kindly get back to me for us to discuss on how to transfer the investment fund through online banking system to your own account for onward investment purpose.
 
I wait to hear from you for more details.
Yours Sincerely,
Dr. Abdullah Al-Thani.

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