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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: Anita <anitacoulibaly@saviourmail.com>
Reply-To: anitacoulibaly@ymail.com
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2010 09:17:33 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Greetings!


Greetings!
 
How are you together with your family? It's good to write today however, is neither required nor in any way force me to go against their will. My name is Anita Coulibaly. I am 19 years old, the only daughter and son of Chief (Late) Mr. Oliver.Coulibaly
 
My father was a gold miner of great reputation in Ivory Coast during his days. Sad to say, he died mysteriously during one of his business trips though, his sudden death was linked or rather suspected to have been masterminded by my uncle who traveled with him at that time. But God knows the truth!
 
My mother died when i was still a baby and since then, my father took me so special. Before his death, he called the secretary who accompanied him to the hospital and said he has the sum of $ 9,500,000 .00 left in a leading Bank here in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. He also said the money deposited in my name as next of kin and finally issued a written instruction to his lawyer who says he is in possession of all necessary and legal documents concerning this fund and the bank. I'm only 19 and a college student and really do not know what to do.
 
Now i want an account overseas where i can transfer this money, this is because i suffered a lot of setbacks as a result of the continuing political crisis here in Ivory coast, which is bringing smokes now and ready to bring another fresh civil war here, as i'm seen things as of saturday 13th, (which i pasted the link news from bbc below) and family problems that made me run away from home and hide in a local hotel for the safety of my life by the hand of my wicked Uncle who killed my father and some other members of the family that are after my life. Here is the news link, copy it and paste on address bar: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8513806.stm
 
The death of my father actually brought sorrows and setback again to my life. Dearest, I am in a sincere desire of your urgent assistance in this regard. Please your suggestions and ideas are very necessary. This is all i want from you, mostly:
 
1. You help me negotiate for lucrative and legal investment where the money is spent wisely, as you know that i am only a child and have no investment knowledge.
 
2. You help me to secure a permanent residence permit in your country to come over and continue my education while you take care of the investment that will be created for you. The most important of all is for you to be a good partner, when the money reaches your country.
 
I am willing to give 20% of the total money after the money has been transferred successfully to your bank account in your country for their assistance and to 20% in the case of expenditures made during the transfer process.
 
Please, Consider this and return to me as soon as possible. So that we will know what to do in transferring this money out before this crisis will be worst as i'm looking at it now.
 
Thanks for being there for me.
 
Sincerely,
Anita Coulibaly

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