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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: "Mariam Camara" <mcama333@yahoo.co.uk> (may be fake)
Reply-To: mcama666@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 11:58:52 +0100
Subject: very urgent

Dear good friend

Greetings to you.Please pardon me for contacting you
without any formal appointment or communication do
consider my status as asylum seeker in Dakar Senegal.I
will like to seek your assistance in receiving and
investing the sum of US$4.8M held in a holding company
here in Dakar-Senegal.The money was deposited by my
late father who was killed last year by the rebels
during the uprising in Abidjan-Cote d' Ivoire. He was
until his sudden death a diamond /cocoa dealer in
Angola and Cote d' Ivoire which is where he made his
wealth. Me and my mother arrived Dakar few days ago
and confirmed the validity of this deposit then
decided to contact you for assistance in view of our
present situations. We got your contact through the
Internet data base while searching for my father's
friends in your country.

More details will be given to you as soon as i hear
from you.Please include some of your personal details
for us to establish a good business and family
relationship.

I look forward to hearing from you
Honestly yours
Mariam Camara


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