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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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Fraud email example:

From: "stella koko" <stella_koko@stellyko.net>
Reply-To: stellakoko@mail2world.com
Date: Tue, 05 Apr 2005 06:20:51 +0000
Subject: cry for help.

Dear friend,
How are you doing today?

My name is Stella Koko,25yrs and I am the daughter to the former
minister of External Affairs. My dad died since 5yrs ago in a ghastly
plane crash on his way back from Kenya,and since then life has not
been easy for me and my family anyway I thank God that I am alive
today.Since the death of my dad things have not been easy with us.
Though my dad died leaving a huge amount of funds and
the government has refused to release this money because the money has
been deposited with a security company abroad.I and my family have gone
through hell even my dads brothers could not help us and the only given
option now for us is to have a reliable foreigner that can assist us with
his/her foreign account so that the funds can be transferred into his or
her account.
After this has been done my family and I are willing to offer 25% of the
funds to anyone that can assist us to claim our money. My mum has been
so ill and things are not really going well with us here. I decided to
contact
you because I knew God was going to use you to assist me and my family
from our present predicament.As soon as we have been able to collect this
money I and my family will be coming overseas so we can start up a new l
ife and invest in a profitable business venture I will be glad if you can
assist us.
As I write this I write in tears and pains,I appeal to you to assist me
so that
the funds can be transfered.I will give you more details as soon as hear
from
you.I want you to know that I have been directed by the spirit to send this
to
you.May the lord bless you richly as you assist my family and I in
regaining our lost life
back as this is my mum's only wish right now.
You can reply to me through this e-mail:stella_koko@stellakoko.net
Best regards
Stella Koko


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