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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: "Nancy Wilford (mrs)" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <nancywilford@live.com>
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:49:40 -0800
Subject: God will reward you and your family.

Dear beloved one

My name is Nancy Wilford (mrs). Naturally, this letter might come to you as a surprise, since we have not met before. It
is by the grace of God that this took occurred, knowing the truth and the truth shall set me free. Having known the truth, i had no choice than to do what is lawful and rightful in the sight of God for eternal life and in the sight of man for witness of God's mercy and glory upon my life. I have the pleasure to share my life briefly history with you and also prayed over it, God revealed to me that you are genuine hearted and can do this work. I am the above named person from Netherlands. I am married to Dr.Franklyn Wilford who worked with Netherlands embassy in Nigeria for nine years before his death on march 2004.We were married for eleven years without a child. My husband Dr.Franklyn Wilford died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days.


Before his death, we were both born again Christians. When my late husband was alive, he deposited the sum of Three million, five hundred thousand us dollars($3.5m) with First Bank of Nigeria Plc. Altogether, i have decided to give alms to charity organizations, as I want this to be one of the last good deeds I do on earth. So far, I have distributed money to some charity organizations in the U.A.E, London and Ireland when i was healthy. Now that my health has deteriorated so badly, I cannot do this myself any more. Presently, this money is still with the above mentioned bank in Nigeria. And the management just wrote me as the wife of the
depositor to come forward to receive the money or rather issue a letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my behalf since i cannot come over there due to my illness. I'm with my laptop in a hospital at Amsterdam, Netherlands where i have been undergoing treatment for cancer which had indicated to my doctor that i would not last for the next four months.


So it is my last wish to see that this money is distributed to charity organizations, and orphanages because our relatives have
plundered so much of our wealth after my husband's death and my illness got deteriorated. 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 and utilize the above mentioned funds and its interest and distribute it accordingly. Having known my condition i decided to donate this fund to church or a faithful individual that will utilize this money the way i am going to instruct herein.I want a person that has a God fearing heart and mind. Someone that will use this money on charity, orphanages etc 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. My husband relatives are not God fearing people and i don't want this hard earned money to be misused by them. I don't want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly manner.


My happiness is that i lived a life of a worthy Christian. So i am not afraid of death hence i know where i am going. I know that i am going to be in the bosom of the lord. Whoever that wants to serve the lord must serve him in spirit and truth. Please always be
prayerful all through your life. I don't need any telephone communication in this regard because of my health and the presence of my husband's relatives around me always. I don't want them to know about this development. My alternative e-mail is (nancywilford@live.com), any further communication should be addressed to this e-mail box for confidentiality.


Any delay in your reply will give me room in searching for a church or a faithful individual for this same purpose. Please assure me in your response that you will act accordingly as i stated herein. Also I want you and the church to be always praying for me. Hoping to hear from you soonest.

Yours sister in the
lord,

Nancy Wilford (mrs)

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