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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: Helen Omah <helen.omah@btinternet.com>
Reply-To: helenomah1987@hotmail.com
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:58:49 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Dearest One,


Dearest One,
I am Miss Helen Omah, the only daughter of (Late) Mr. & Mrs Raymond Omah, my mother died when I was young, then my father been a caring man took very good care of me till November 2TH 2007 that all my joy turn to sorrow , after a brief illness he died in his sleep. But there is some rumour going around right now that he was poisoned by one of my uncle. Although I cannot be able to verify this because they have rejected my request for autopsy before he was buried. But after the funeral some of his close associates has warned me to stay away, because I might be the target if it is true that he was poisoned. There is this amount of(US $12 .5M)(Twelve Million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars) which my father deposited in the Bank here in Abidjan-Cote Ivoire before his untimely death. My father was a highly reputable business man, he deals in Cafe and Cocoa seeds and I am in the position of the document the bank issued to him when he deposited the
money.
Now I have decided to transfer and invest this money in your country or anywhere safe enough outside Cote Ivoire due to circumstances surrounding my father's death, and I didn't trust anyone here. I want you to help me transfer and invest this money in any lucrative business in your country considering my age and not having any experience about investment-especially of the magnitude this will require.
I want immediately the money is transferred to you I will come over to your country to continue my education under your care If you can be of a sincere assistance to me ,please do get back to me for more details. I await your immediate response at helenomah1987@hotmail.com
Thanks and God bless you.
Sincerely,
Helen Omah.

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