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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: "Ms. Susan Elliot" <susanelliot81@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 07:33:02 -0300 (ART)
Subject: I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE




Hello Dearly,

With due respect and humbleness, I am writing you this letter to request
with my sincere heart for your assistance.
My name is Miss Susan. My father late Elliot Machipisa was a successful
businessman, Industrialist and a Human Right defender. My father was
detained and later killed by the President Mugabe owned ZANU-PF Militias
group. He accused my father and others of supporting the opposition
party. The ZANU-PF killers attack our house one early morning and shot my
mother. She later died in the hospital after two weeks in coma.
http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/1477

http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/03/08/zimbabwe-no-justice-rampant-killings-torture

The main reason why I am contacting you now is because of the urgency of
my situation here.
I am constrained to contact you because of the maltreatment I am receiving
from my Uncle. He wanted to kill me so that he can take all my late
father's treasury and properties since there is no other person left in my
house.
Meanwhile I wanted to escape but he destroyed international passport and
some other documents. Luckily he did not see where I kept my father's
File, which contains important documents. So I decided to run to the
refugee camp where I am presently seeking asylum under the NGO for the
Refugee here in Senegal.
I have my late father's statement of account and certificate here with me,
which i will send to you latter. When my father was alive he deposited
some amount of money in a leading bank in Europe which he used my name as
the next-of-kin. The amount is $7.3M (Seven Million three Hundred Thousand
Dollars).
The Bank has sent a routine notification to me as regards the maturity of
the fixed deposit account but I could not do anything because of my
present status as a refugee which according to the local laws does not
authorize me to carry out such transaction. Again as a result of delay,
the bank sent another notification to me but this time to inform me of the
ethics and policies of the Deposit holding firm, that this funds will be
declared unclaimable or be confiscated for already the account has been
tagged dormant because it has exceeded the normal functional number of
years.
However, the bank manager advised me to provide a trustee who will stand
on my behalf for the transfer of the fund.

However, I shall forward you all the necessary documents on confirmation
of your acceptance to assist me for the transfer and investment of this
fund. I will also come over to your country as soon the fund is
transferred.
I kept this secret to people in the camp here the only person that knows
about it is the Reverend father who is taking care of us here because he
is like a father to me.
It is my intention to compensate you with 15% of the total money for your
assistance and 5% will be for expenses that may be incurred during the
transfer process.
This is the reason why I decided to contact you.
contact me via email: susanelliot81@yahoo.co.uk
I sincerely will appreciate your willingness to assist me as soon as
possible.

Yours Sincerely,
Miss. Susan Elliot


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