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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: Grace Ovie <g_ovie@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2013 14:50:56 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Miss Grace Ovie


Hello dear,
Greetings to you and all members of your family. My name is Grace Ovie, 21 years old from Cote d'Ivoire. I am the only child of my late parents. My late father was a wealthy cocoa farmer in our country before he was poisoned to death last year while my mother died few years back.

I inherited the sum of 9 million USD (Dollars) from my late father. The money was deposited at bank here by my father before his death. I need your assistance to claim and transfer this fund to your country for the purpose of joint investment partnership with you and also to relocate there to continue my education.

I am willing to offer you 20% of the funds as compensation for this help. Kindly respond urgently. Thanks and God bless you.

Yours sincerely,
Grace Ovie

Anti-fraud resources: