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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: SGT. Roger<steven@drdistribution.net>
Reply-To: mygracebox1@gmail.com
Date: 16 Sep 2021 00:02:39 +0200
Subject: REPLY AS URGENT..

Dear Sir,


I hope this mail finds you well ,

Sorry to bother you, My name is SGT. Roger Wiliams, I am a U.S Army Officer and Special Secret Service Agent (SSSA), currently deployed discreetly on active duty in Baghdad Afghanistan. Please note that this mail is meant solely for you and you alone.  For safety and security purposes, please keep our conversations private until we successfully secure this deal and hopefully get to meet in person.
Need be that I let you know that I am a Christain and God-fearing man, and I would like to know you more and hope you have an upright spirit and faith in which that you believe in, as I do not discriminate one's religious belief and understanding. 
I have contacted you because of a serial ambush operation carried out against one of the notorious Taliban groups here in Baghdad. 
During one of the operations, I discovered a surprise of my life, I found A huge black thick metal Box containing 24 pieces of Gold Bars weighing 297.6KG along with hard currency, in the sum of USD11.3M buried together.  
Please know if this mail gets to you, it is because I want to trust you as I barely know you but I know and believe in life that there are good people willing to sacrifice all for the sake of humanity and that is why I have decided to go against all odds in contacting and working with you. 
At the moment, all I seek from you is your total sincerity, trust, transparency, corporation, and above all oneness of heart and love which conquers all. Due to the heavyweight of the content, and its high market value, which could raise eyebrows and potentially pose a threat to my life here, I decided to split them into two different boxes thereby, reducing its weight and attention to one's sight so as to convey it across to you for keeps until I'm done with my mission barely two months from now, and hopefully get to meet you in person anywhere in the world, so we can split the golds and funds and live happily ever after with our families. 
On this note, I would like to propose a 70/30 basis for this deal. The 70% is for me and the rest 30% is all yours. 
Please get back to me ASAP once this mail gets to you so we can relate further to how we can successfully make this work. I hope to hear from you soon but if you are not capable of working with me then you can ignore this mail and delete it from your mailbox. But I believe my instincts have pushed me to you and I have high hopes that we will work this out successfully and that is why I have contacted you.
Again, please remember that you need to keep this information private until we meet in person.

Thank you as I anticipate your response ASAP.

SGT. Roger

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