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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: Grace Michael <gracemichael@rocketmail.com>
Reply-To: missgracemichael@yahoo.co.jp
Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2008 06:26:23 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: READ AND RESPOND ASAP


I have a new email address!You can now email me at: gracemichael@rocketmail.com



- Dearest One,Good morning, how are you and your family? I hope fine. Please, I am sorry to bother you with my problem.Please know that it's not by mistake I am contacting you but by the special grace of God.I am Miss Grace Micheal, 18 years old and the only child of my late parents late {Chief and Mrs. Robert Micheal}from Ivory coast. My mother died when i was a baby. My father established his business in Ivory coast , He was poisoned to death by his business associates on one of their outings on a business trip, his death has now made me an orphan and i am exposed to danger.Before the unfortunate death of my father,he told me about some money{$7.5 million U.S.Dollars} and gold dust which he kept inside two metallic boxes that he deposited with a Security Company in Accra Ghana as a family treasure. Since the death of my father, my uncles have sent me out of our house and collected most of my late father properties except this money that they do not know about, they said that i am a female child that i do not have any right in the family.I am presently taking shelter in a church with a certain pastor and his family. My father said he used my name as her only child as his next of kin to deposit the money and the gold dust and in case he fails to make it, that I should take good care of myself and get someone to help invest the money for me.I have all the legal papers with me here and the key to the boxes, my father did not disclose the content of the two trunk boxes to the security company to avoids the officials from raising eye brows to it. Presently I have contacted the security company about my claim of the trunk boxes but the security company told me that my father made an agreement with the company management that they should not release the two trunk boxes to me without a foreign partner that is why i am seeking for your assistance to help me stand before the company as my foreign beneficiary/partner or my guardian to receive the trunk boxesin your country ,Because of this i am honorably seeking your assistance in the following ways:(1) To be my guardian and then assist me financially to see that this trunk boxes are retrieve from the security company.(2) To make arrangement for me to come over to your country to further my education and then settle there permanently.Please help me and stand as my guardian and contact the security company. I want you to come down here to be sure of what i am saying and after the transaction, i will go back with you.After you have help me get my inheritance, you are going to also help me with the investment of this money since i do not have any idea of investment. Should you be interested. God bless you and our earliest response to this mail will be highly appreciated.Miss.Grace Micheal.


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