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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: rossykelebs@yahoo.ca
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 17:44:29 +0200
Subject: Hi, Its mary.

Dear Friend,

My name is Mrs Mary Jones
I am the above named person from Kuwait.
I was 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 replyI shall give you
the contact of my Lawyer, 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.

Please reply to:mary62jones@yahoo.co.in


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