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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: "Mrs Regina Smith" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <regina.smith69@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:24:47 +0100
Subject: From Mrs.Regina Smith, Dear beloved one..

Dear beloved one,

Greetings to you in the name of our almighty and unfailure God who made all things possible for his children, I am Mrs.Regina Smith from France Paris, I am 70years Old, I was once a Muslim, but ever since I got married, I became a new Christian convert since my husband was a Christian. Ever since then the Lord has been good to me, my dear I was married to a French man who is a nationality of Ivory Coast Mr.David Smith, and we lived happily for years without a child which gave me countless and sleepless night as it was hell to be in your husbands home without an issue.

I am presently in Ivory Coast, and God knows why he allowed calamity to befall household, my husband suffered from diphtheria and acute mania before he finally gave up in François general hospital, ever since then the family of my husband has never allowed me to have my piece all because of the worldly things of the earth. My husband was an contractor who worked with the François Construction Company, all we had before his death was threatened to be inherited by his family since I could not give him a child when he was alive. My dear, I sold all I had and all I was able to inherit from my husbands wealth and donated a sum of $6.2million USD (Six Million Two Hundred United States Dollars) in a bank vault in United States New York, with the Federal Reserve Bank,

My dear after all these predicaments I went through, My fate and my mind could not carry them so I fell ill, I am presently suffering from Apoplexy and an Insulin dependant diabetic, which is eating deep into my system now.I thank God that I am still alive to accomplish my mission on earth. My dear, presently the bank wrote me to either trade with the fund or have it utilized in anyway I wish, or issue a letter of authorization to someone abroad that I can trust to claim the fund on my behalf and have it used as I wish since I cannot come over, My dear due to my present health condition, I cannot go through these processes by myself, so I need you to carry out this project on my behalf and have the fund wired to you. I want the fund distributed among the charity organisations, the less privileged ones, the motherless babies’ homes, build a cancer hospital, and build a hospital for the sick in your state.

I want you to be a God fearing, always remember to love one another as you love yourself, always put me in your daily prayers and always know that God first before any other thing. My dear as soon as I hear back from you, I shall instruct and direct you on how you are going to contact the Federal Reserve Bank in new york with some code of identifications which I shall release to you. I do not want trust to betray me so I am doing this as the Lord has directed me to, I took this drastic decision because I have finally known that all these wealth are vanity upon vanity and one day we shall go without it.

My dear please put me in your daily prayer regarding my health, and I hope to hear back from you as soon as you can so we can proceed, my dear please do not expose this letter of mine because I do not understand what I am hearing about scam these days, please be aware that I do not want to loose this fund to the name of scam, so please be very careful my dear. The Lord shall not take his children to where his grace will not protect them, my dear do not be afraid as the Lord has destined you for this purpose.

I await your reply.
Love,
Mrs.Regina Smith


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