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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: miriam_egoukwu <miriam_egoukwu@orange.nl>
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:53:32 +0100 (CET)
Subject:


>From Mrs Miriam Egoukwu.
Centre De Sante Bethesda Hospital
83BP:1730 Gbejromede
Cotonou Benin Republic

Dear Trusting Friend
It is with tears and pains that I write this mail from
my sick bed in a hospital. I believe you have never
met such a condition before. My name is Mrs.Miriam Egoukwu,
widow to late Mr. Khalid Egoukwu, former owner of
PETROLEUM AND GAS Company, here in Benin Republic.
I am 68years old, suffering from long time cancer of
the breast. From all indications my condition is
really deteriorating and it's quite obvious that I
won't live more than 2 months according to my doctors.
This is because the cancer stage has gotten to a very
bad stage. I don't want your pity me, but I need your
trust. My late husband died in December 2003 in a
plane crash in Benin, (please check,
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/12/26/benin.crash/index.html).
and during the period of our marriage we couldn't
produce any child. My late husband was very wealthy
and after his death, I inherited all his business and
wealth. The doctor has advised me that I will not live
for more than 1 months, so I have now decided to
spread all my wealth, to contribute mainly to the
development of charity in Africa, America, Asia and
Europe. Am sorry if you are embarrassed by my mail.

I found your e-mail address as a real Child of God for
over a month now that I have been praying about you to
know if really you are working according to the
direction of God so after all my prayers I am
convince, and I have decided to contact you, but if
for any reason you find this mail offensive,you can
ignore it and please accept my apology before my late
husband died he was a major oil tycoon, in Benin and
deposited the sum of US8,000,000.00 (Eight Million
Dollars only) in Europe some years ago, That's all I
have left now,

I need your help to collect this funds and distribute
it yourself to charity homes.So that when I die my
soul will rest in peace. The funds will be entirely in
hands and management hope God gives you the wisdom to
touch very many lives that is my main concern. 30%of
this fund will be for your timeand effort, while 70%
goes to charity.
Reply me through this yahoo email account: mrsmiriamegoukwu@yahoo.com

God bless you.
Regards
Miriam Egoukwu

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