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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: John Lowish <b140fe@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <lowishjohn7@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2014 21:11:10 +0000
Subject: Dear respectful one,


Dear respectful one,

My name is John Lowish, i am 22 years old from Liberia. Please go through below my mail to see if you can assist for our mutual benefit.My late father was a cocoa and gold business man.

He died in a motor accident with my mother one week after his trip to Cote d'lvoire to negotiate on a cocoa business he wanted to invest in. My mother died instantly and my father followed up five days after in the hospital. May there soul rest in perfect peace.

Before the death of my father, he disclosed to me about sum of $7.5 Million United States Dollars he deposited in a bank in Cote d'lvoire for the investment with my name as next of kin.

I am a novice in terms of business and can not be able to handle investment of the money by my self and do not want to involve my relatives as instructed by my late father.

I solicit for your assistance to guard me invest the money as partners under your care.

If we happen to do this together, before any thing is done with the money, I will give you 10% of the total money as compensation for your assistance.

I look forward to hearing from you for more details if you are willing are able to handle this.

Best regards.
John Lowish

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