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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
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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.

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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
  • "huge deposit" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
• This email message is a "dying merchant" scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "Elizbeth Olk" <elizbetholk@universia.pt>
Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2008 17:45:05 +0400
Subject: Thanks!


Dear Sir/madam,
Greetings.

As you read this I don't want you to feel sorry for me because I believe
everyone will die someday. My name is Mrs. Elizbeth Olk, I married to Late
Mr. Hansami Olk for good nine years with out no child, and my late husband
was a businessman in Dubai, United Arab Emirates before he died 1999 I then
took over his business.

Now I have been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. It has defiled all forms
of medical treatment and right now I have only about a few months to live
according to medical experts. I have not particularly lived my life so well
as I never really cared for anyone (not even myself), but my late husband
business only. Though my late husband was very well to do in business before
I took over his business, I was never open handed, I was always hostile to
people like they never had hopes of becoming as successful as myself alone.
But now I regret all this as I now know that there is more to life than just
waiting to be prosperous.

I believe when God gives me a second chance to come to this world again, I
would live my life a different way from how I have lived it. Now that God
has called me, I have willed and given most of my late husband belonging to
my immediate and extended family members as well as a few close friends. I
want God to be merciful to me and accept my soul. Hence I have decided to
give also to charity, as I want this to be one of the last good deeds I do
on earth.

Now that my health has deteriorated so badly, I cannot do this myself
anymore. I once asked members of my late husband family to aid me in giving
of alms to those organizations catering for the less privileged but they
refused and kept the resources to themselves.

Hence I do not trust them anymore, as they seem not to be contempt with what
I have left for them. The last of my late husband belonging which no one
knows of it is the huge deposit of (Eight million US dolls) that I have in a
safe keeping Company which I will want you to secure and dispatch to charity
organizations.

Please Endeavour to reply me, as I'll be awaiting your quick response for
your time and devotion, I have set aside a tenth of this for you.
God be with you.
Mrs.Elizbeth Olk.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam