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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: James Kone <jm.kone26@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <jameskone@mailbox.hu>
Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2007 02:03:42 +0000
Subject: Message From The Two Orphans James and Nathalie.



Message From The Two Orphans James and Nathalie. Address: Abidjan-Ivory Coast(Cote d'Ivoire)Telephone: 00 22504096713 My Dear, This may sound strange and unbelievable to you,but it is with bleeding hearts and deep pains that led me and my beloved sister in taking this bold step of faith to reveal this private information to you without knowing who you are, but we believe after reading this letter, you would find space in your kind heart to assist us out of this situation. Do kindly go through this letter because it means me and my sister’s life, entire future and not such kind of unsolicited scam or fraudulent email considering events around the world presently. I was only 7 years old and my sister was 5 year old when our mother died of leukaemia, disease of the blood,and our father never remarried until after 5 years because of the painful death and also for his love for our late mother our father take good care of me and my younger sister because the second wife could not conceive, reason best known to her and our father. On the 10th of December 2005 to be precise, on his way to visit his business associate our father, his driver,and our step mother were all shot dead by unknown men suspected to be assasins around 10 pm local time.They all died on the spot of the incident even before reaching the nearest hospital, we could never find enough and right words to explain uptill this very day, the memories that leads us into constant tears and pain,even as we are writing this letter to you, has not been the same. Our late father was dealing with exportation of crude oil,Gold and Diamond to the western world, which we believe was the cause of his death,arising from jealousy and hatred from relatives and business associates as a result of his success and achievements in his field of business. Now our only hope,is to leave this country and travel to another country in any of the western world were we are not known to start a new life again because we can no more bear the pains of this great loss in this environment. Meanwhile, our late father deposited the sum of ($ 10,500,000.00) Ten Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars in one of the commercial banks here which I will want you to help me and my younger sister move out of this country because of the political trouble and lack of trust here. If you are sure and honest that you are not going to take advantage of our situation, just like our uncles have done to us because of not releasing our late father’s vital business documents to them. Please kindly get in touch with us urgently for more details on how to proceed. We are totally frustrated that our whole mind for now lies on our survival which is securing this money out from this place. Please we are confiding completely in you and we really need your assistance at this point of our life as you alone knows of this venture. Thanks for your kind anticipated positive reply. Your's FaithfullyJames and NathalieTelephone: 00 22504096713
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