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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: MISS MARIAM <miss.mwiromariam01@voila.fr>
Reply-To: miss.mangwiromariam@voila.fr
Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 13:31:49 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: HOPING FOR YOUR HUMBLE ASSISTANCE.




Dear Sir/Madam,



You might have heard or read about the ongoing war raging in my country, Côte d'Ivoire for over some months now and the growing pains and deaths that ruling government troops and those of her current rivals and erstwhile allies have brought to the citizens of Côte d'Ivoire, which recently laid to the sanction against our government by the African Union.



The war has brought an untold hardship of large magnitude to many families in Côte d'Ivoire including mine. In fact , right now I am the only surviving daughter of my father, a gold miner and political activist, who consistently criticized the government’s policies and misrule . This, in fact,made my family a target of government persecution and attack , leading to the deaths of entire members of my family during the war,I managed to escape to Mali to Burkina-Faso neighbouring country where my mother comes from; then am now living here as a refugee.



However, we were very rich until the war broke out and changed my fortune for the worst . While going through my father’s business files, I stumbled on a letter showing the deposit of a vault with a security company by my late father when the heat was on him by the government. I remember my father telling me one night to take care of it as the vault contains the sum of US$ 10 million of Dollar bills and precious gold of inestimable value that should be used to take care of the family and his business in case any thing bad happens to him in the hands of the government.



Recently, I managed to contact the security company and they confirmed having such vault in their strong room. They however requested me to come forward to claim the vault as soon as possible upon payment of certain security fees which I do not have now because of my present predicament as a refugee. I have actually notified them that I will soon make arrangements to file a claim to that effect. You may be pleased to hear that I am currently processing necessary UN travel papers that can enable me to move out of Republic of Burkin-Faso to any choice country.



Being financially and circumstantially constrained, I now seek your kind assistance in securing this vault on my behalf for safekeeping and high yield investments pending when I am able to secure my travel papers. Honestly, I am forced to seek external assistance because of my situation and have the confidence that you will not capitalize on my predicament to seize the money or cheat me out of the treasure after the conclusion of the business. My trust in you is based on my belief in God.Meanwhile i will not forget to explain myself to you,I am Miss Mariam Mangwiro Ahmed 22yrs a student of University of Bouaké Côte d'Ivoire.



Please, respond to me urgently to confirm if you are in position to assist me or not so we can agree on terms and conditions of your assistance. If for any reason you are not interested, kindly please put me in your daily prayers for god’s continued protection and blessing in this regard. I sincerely thank you and look forward to reading from you urgently.



Yours in need

Miss Mariam Mangwiro Ahmed

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