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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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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Mrs.Susan Momodu" <gon_@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: susan_momodu30@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 09:16:40 +0100
Subject: Mrs.Susan Momodu

Greetings,
I do recognize the surprise this mail may bring to you, considering the fact that it came from a stranger, please be rest assured that it comeswith best of intentions.My name is Mrs. Susan.Momodu, wife of the late former Special adviser to the former military president of Sierra Leone Major Johnny Koroma. My husband was a key officer of President Koroma's inner caucus officers.
I believe you may have heard all over the news some time ago then on BBC and CNN about the various coup attempts to overtrow President Koroma's regime, which led to a civil war between Koroma's administration and the West African Allied Forces (ECOMOG).
During that war, President Koroma depended heavily on foreign earnings generated from our countries booming Diamond trade and plenty of money and arms that he received from secret sponsors/countries who supported his regime to fight the opposition forces and remain in power. All the money and daimonds were kept by President Koroma in his presidential villa,because our entire country's banking systems had collapsed as a result of the war. As the war progressed,it became obvious that Koroma's faction were going to loose the war to the opposition Forces, so most of the Korona's followers had to flee from Sierra Leone for the safety of their lifes.
It was survival of the fittest, so they shared all the Diamonds and money remaining in their custody. My husband was unable to move his own share money out of Sierra leone, because our banking systems were destroyed. We then, hid the money somewhere in the city of Lungi,`Sierra Leone, before we escaped to South Africa for asylum.My husband died of heart attack after several months on exile, and since then i have been left alone to take care of my entire family. I contactedyou because i am now making plans to move my husband's money out of Sierra Leone to an oversea country where my family can start to utilize this money.
I have arrangements to move the money safetly out of Sierra Leone to Europe, where you can receive it, so I need you to assist me make plans for safe keeping and good investments. I am willing to offer you some part of the money for you assistance, as We have $28 Million Dollars and some fractions hidden back there in Sierra Leone My dear, I need to know if you can work with me, so that I can give you more details of my arrangements.Please endevour to keep all my discussions about this money confidential to ensure that we have 100% smooth movement of the money.
Regards,
Mrs.Susan Momodu
urgent reply.


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