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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: "manuel franco" <manuel@mfranco.com>
Reply-To: manuelfrancospende002@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2023 03:38:16 +0200
Subject: 2.000.000,00 Euro


Hallo Sie haben eine Spende in H=F6he von 2,045 Millionen US-Dollar (2.000.=
000,00 Euro). Mein Name ist Manuel Franco aus den Vereinigten Staaten. Ich =
habe die Amerika-Lotterie im Wert von 768 Millionen Dollar gewonnen und spe=
nde einen Teil davon an nur 5 gl=FCckliche Menschen und ein paar Waisenh=E4=
user als Memorandum des guten Willens f=FCr die Menschheit. Wenn Sie ein Em=
pf=E4nger dieser E-Mail sind, kontaktieren Sie mich f=FCr weitere Details u=
nd Anspr=FCche. Ich bin vielleicht sehr besch=E4ftigt, aber ich werde mir Z=
eit nehmen, um Ihnen zu antworten.

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