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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: "Richard Folley" <richfolley7@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: richfolley@excite.com
Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2005 19:01:40 +0000
Subject: PLease Respond

Dear Beloved One.
Thank you for giving me your time;Please be patient and read my email to
you, this letter might come as a surprise to you,and you could be wondering
where I got your contact. I got your address through a personal search on
the internet for someone relaible and trustworthy,so i decided to contact
you for an assistant, which I do hope you will take your time to consider.
My name is Richard Folley, the eldest son of Late Dr. ENAGUA Folley, from
Zimbabwe.During the current war against the farmers in Zimbabwe from the
supporters of our President Robert Mugabe to claim all the white-owned farms
for his party members and his followers, he ordered all white farmers to
surrender all their farms to his party members and his followers. My father
was one of the biggest farmers in our country and because he strongly
opposed Mugabe's ideas, Mugabe's supporters invaded my father's farm and
burnt everything in the farm, killing my father in the incident and made
away with a lot of items in my father's farm. Before my father's death,he
had made a deposit sum of USD$7 million with a Security Company in Europe.

He intended to use the money in buying new machinery and to set up a new
farm in Swaziland. After the death of my father,l decided to escape with my
other siblings to another country because of continued harassment and threat
from Mugabe and his
supporters,we could only get as far as the republic of Benin where we are
now seeking political refuge.
As the eldest man in the Family, i have been making contact with the company
to see how i can make the claim without going there but to no avail,i was
told that the claim can only be made by me or my father's representative in
thier office.This is the reason why i decided to contact you to assist us
since I am not able to travel outside this country particularly to Europe
where the company is located. I am seeking for your assistance to help us go
to the security company as our father's representative for the claims,
For your role in this transaction,my family and i have agreed to offer you
30% of the total sum for your assistance, 5% will be set-aside for any
expenses that may be incurred by you in the course of this transaction and
the remaining 65% will be for my family and i to invest in any lucrative
investment in your country upon your advice.
All I want you to do is to help me finish this transaction and at the same
time help me to invest some of our share of the money in a lucrative
business in your country. Please get back to me if you can be of assistance
via my private email address (richfolley@excite.com)or my phone number
+229-97093300. for better discussion or should incase you have any questions
you would like to ask,please feel free to contact me any time via Tel.or
email. Thanks and God bless as i will be looking forward to your swift and
positive response.
Best regards,
Mr.Richard Folley


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