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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: "mary parker" <maryparker06@msn.com>
Reply-To: maryparker71@netscape.net
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 02:13:34 +0000
Subject: A CRY FOR HELP

Dear Beloved in Christ.

It is by the grace of God that I received Christ, having known the truth, I
had no choice than to do what is lawful and just in the sight of God for
eternal life and in the sight of man for witness of God & His Mercies and
glory upon my life.

I am Mrs.Mary Parker, the wife of Mr Robert Parker, my husband worked with
the chevron/Texaco in Kenya for twenty years before he died in the year
2003.We were married for
ten years without a child. My Husband died after a brief illness that lasted
for only four days.

Before his death we both got born-again and dedicated christians. Since his
death I decided not to re-marry or get a child outside my matrimonial home
which the Bible is strongly against.When my late husband was alive he
deposited the sum of US$7.5 Million.(Seven Million Five Hundred thousand
U.S.Dollars) with a Bank in Europe. Presently, this money is still with the
Bank and the management just wrote me as the beneficiary that our account
has been DORMANT and if I, as the beneficairy of the funds, do not
re-activate the account; the funds will be CONFISCATED or I rather issue a
letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my behalf (note that
you need to activate this account) as I can not come over. Presently, I'm
in a hospital in Kenya where I have been undergoing treatment for esophageal
cancer. I have since lost my ability to talk and my doctors have told me
that I have only a few weeks to live. It is my last wish to see this money
distributed to charity organizations anywhere in the World. Because
relatives and friends have plundered so much of my wealth since my illness,
I cannot live with the agony of entrusting this huge responsibility to any
of them. Please, I beg you in the name of God to help me Stand-in as the
beneficiary and collect the Funds from the Bank.

I want a person that is God-fearing who will use this money to fund
churches, orphanages and
widows propagating the word of God and to ensure that the house of God is
maintained. The
Bible made us to understand that blessed is the hand that giveth. I took
this decision because I don't have any child that will inherit this money
and my husband's relatives are not Christians and I don't want my husband's
hard earned money to be misused by unbelievers. I don't want a situation
where this money will be used in an ungodly manner. Hence the reason for
taking this bold decision.I am not afraid of death since I know where I am
going to. I know that I am going to be in the bosom of the Lord. {Exodus14
VS14}says that the lord will fight my case and I shall hold my peace. I
don't need any telephone communication in this regard because of my
soundless voice and presence of my husband's relatives around me always.I
don't want them to know about this development.

With God all things are possible.

BELOVED ONE REPLY TO MY PRIVATE EMAIL: maryparker71@walla.com

Your Sister in Christ,

Mrs.Mary Parker


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