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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: "deborah herman" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <deborah_herman5@aol.com>
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2015 20:24:31 -0000
Subject: DEARLY BELOVED[PLEASE HELP HUMANITY]h

Name: Deborah Calvert Herman Country of birth: Australia. Attn: Beloved, Good morning, Greetings in the name of humanity, I am Mrs. Deborah Calvert Herma, a citizen of Australia but presently in the Malaysia.I was previously working for the federal government, I am 50 years old, I am now a new Christian but from all indication, my conditions is really deteriorating and it is quite depressing, i have been suffering from long time cancer of the Lungs, from obvious reasons,that I wont live more than 1 year, according to my doctors, this is because the cancer stage has gotten to a very bad stage. My late husband died last five years ago, and during the period of our marriage we couldn't produce any child. My late husband was very wealthy and after his death, I inherited all his business and wealth. The doctors has advised me that I may not live for more than 1 year, so I now decided to divide the part of this wealth to contribute to the development of the church in Africa, America Asia, and Europe. I selected you after visiting the website and I prayed over it. I am willing to donate the sum of $25,000.000.00u.usd (twenty five million United States dollars) to the less privileged. Please I want you to note that this fund is lying in a security company in Malaysia. Once i hear from you, I will forward to you all the information you will use to get fund released from the security company and to be transferred to your account. I honestly pray that this money when transferred to your account will be used for the said purpose, because I have come to find out that wealth acquisition without humility, all is vanity. Please provide me with the following information so I can forward it to a church attorney who used to work at times for my late husband's lawyer. He is diligent and a Christian so I am confident he is going to handle the transaction with you and lead, advice you on how to secure the funds in your favor. Information needed: Full name................................... Full address...................................... Company and address:........................... Marital status:............................... Religion:.......................................... Sex:................................................... Fax no.............................................. Phone no:............................................ I await your urgent reply. (deborah_herman5@aol.com) Your sister. Mrs. Deborah Calvert Herman

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