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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: "Mary Marshal." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <motherjones@sify.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2009 14:59:33 +0100
Subject: BUSINESS INVESTMENT PARTNER

Dear Beloved,

Life became unbearable on the 5th of March, 2003 when my husband Chief Harry Marshal was shot dead in our home.Since then, I have been living with shock and uncertainties,You can find details of the killing of my husband on these websites:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2821299.stm
http://www.ngex.com/personalities/voices/starbaluko030603.htm

I have mourned him based on custom and tradition of our land and I am free now to invest his fund which was deposited in a finance firm in london as I would want to invest the fund in a foreign land,Meanwhile, this is to be done under a secret arrangement just because of the government of the day here.

I will give you details when I get your response.

Thanks.
Mrs. Mary Marshal.





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