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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: charles toure <charlelizabeth_t110@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <charlelizabeth_t@yahoo.fr>
Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2007 03:23:41 +0200
Subject: FROM CHARLES AND ELIZABETH TOURE



Greetings our dear One, I am delighted to write to you. I am sorry if this mail will come to you as an embarrassment or a surprise, I just felt like empting myself to you, to confide in you, as am faced with total frustration and hardship. My Ernest prayer is that you find this mail in good health and blessings.
I am Charles Toure, 23 years old, I am contacting you on behalf of myself and my younger sister Elizabeth. We are now orphans. Nationality­: Ivoirians. Our late Father Mr Lawrence Toure was a successful business-man whom before his untimely death , was a Cocoa and Diamond Merchant based here in Abidjan, Cote d'lvoire. Both our Father and Mother were poisoned at a party organised by one of his business associates. Before he died in a private hospital here, My Father called me and told me that he deposited the sum of US$ 3.4m (Three Million four Hundred Thousand American Dollars), in a bank here which he used my name as the next of kin to deposit the funds as the only son. Due to the problem that have arised in our family between my late Father's brothers over who should control his wealth and subsquent death in the family, I have decided with my younger sister to transfer this funds overseas for future investment after we finish our education. We want to leave here and come over to your country to live and continue our studies, because our lives is no longer safe here. We have heard from a reliable source that they are planing on how to retrieve all the documents concerning the funds from us, so that they can claim the funds. Before contacting you, we have spoken with the local bank manager and worked out modalities on how to transfer the funds to your country. Please, we humbly seek your assistance in the following ways: 1- To assist us in transferring this fund quietly into your account in your country. 2- To serve as the guardian of this funds since I am still in the higher school and my younger sister just finished her secondary education . 3- To make arrangement for me and my younger sister to come over to your country to further our education and to help us secure a residential permit in your country. Moreover, we are willing to offer you any agreed (percentage) out of the total funds as compensation for your efforts/input after the successful transfer of this funds into your nominated account overseas, while some percentage will be set aside to offset any expenses that may come up. 4- Furthermore, you can indicate your option towards assisting us as I believe that this transaction would be concluded within the shortest possible time. NB: Please, if you are interested to help us, please kindly contact me immediately with your direct telephone number and your direct contact address after reading this proposal so that I may give you more detailed information on how this transfer could be carried out. However, I will be sending all the deposit documents given to me by my late father to you for confirmation as soon as i hear from you to know your decision concerning this proposal. Please your urgent response to this our mail will be highly appreciated Yours SincerelyCharles & Elizabeth Toure
_________________________________________________________________
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