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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: mayjune2010@tsamail.co.za
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 12:30:54 +0200
Subject: Hi, I'm Mary.

Dear Friend,

My name is Mrs Mary Jones.
I am the above named person from Kuwait. I am
married to Dr Hilarry Jones who worked with Kuwait
embassy in Ivory Coast for nine years before he died
in the year 2000.We were married for eleven years
without a child. He died after a brief illness that
lasted for only four days. When my late husband
was alive he deposited the sum of $6.2Million (Six
million,Two Hundred Thousand U.S. Dollars) with a
finance/security company in Johannesburg South Africa.
Presently, this money is still with the Security
Company. Recently, my Doctor told me that I would not
last for the next Twelve months due to cancer problem.

Having known my condition I decided to donate this
fund to church or orphanage homes or better still a
Christian Individial, that will utilize this money the way
I am going to instruct you. I want a church that will use
this money to
fund other churches
to ensure that the
house of God is maintained. The Bible made us to
understand that Blessed is the hand that giveth.
I took this decision because I don't have any child
that will inherit this money and my husband relatives
are not Christians and I don't want my husband's hard
earned money to be misused by unbelievers. I don't want
a situation where this money will be used in
ungodly manner.
Hence the reason for taking this bold decision. I am
not afraid of death hence I know where I am going. I
know that I am going to be in the bosom of
the Lord. I don't need any telephone communication in this
regard because of my health. As soon as I receive your
reply
I shall give you the contact of my Antony, He will
issue you a letter of authority that will prove you as
the original-beneficiary of this fund.
Please assure me that you will act
accordingly as I stated here. Hoping to hear from
you.
Yours Faithfully
Mary Jones.

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