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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: AICHA MAINASSRA <aicha_mainassra1@btinternet.com>
Reply-To: aicha_mainassra2005@yahoo.com
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:48:37 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL AND URGENT MESSAGE FROM MISS AICHA


CONFIDENTIAL AND URGENT MESSAGE FROM MISS AICHA
My respected one,
 
 
 I am Miss Aicha Mainassra from West Africa. My reason of contacting you is purely based on seeking your assistance. To tell you more about me, I am 24 years old and the only child of my late parents Mr and Mrs Hassan Mainassra and I am living here in Abidjan, the capital city of Cote d' Ivoire in West Africa. I was a student at a university here studying mass communication but the sudden death of my father last year forced me to discontinue my studies because no one could sponsor my studies again..
My mother died many years back when I was just four years old and since then I have been with my father and he took me so special. His death was so sudden and was caused by food poisoning as the doctor said in his death certificate but we are suspecting one of my uncle who always travel with him any time he is making overseas trip as the person who planned his death, well only God knows the truth.
The issue now is that I want to move out of this country immediately to a more secure place where I will live for the rest of my life because since the death of my father, his brother's and other family relatives have all taken over all my late father's belongings including his business and houses and they don't even want to consider me because I am a girl and from their crude culture here, girls are not allowed to pocess anything from the family until they are married.
 
 In my own case, my father was a business man who always export cocoa to europe and he made a lot of money from this business and own lot of properties and houses, his brothers have taken control of all these things and they can even kill me too if I should ask about them.
 
For this reason, I don't want to be associated with them again. However, my father confided a secret to me before his death in a hospital here. He told me that he deposited the sum of FOUR MILLION , FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND  UNITED STATES OF AMERICAN DOLLARS   with a Fnancial institution (bank) here and no one knows about this,  He also told me that he used my name as the next of kin in depositing  the funds in the bank and also handed over the depository documents to me. He told me that it was because of his wealth that he was poisoned and that I should seek a trustworthy person in a country of my choice who could assist me to claim and invest this money after the fund get transfdered to the pârtner bank account.
 
My dear , this is the main reason I contacted you. I want you to help me claim this funds from the bank here and transfer this funds to your country and also help me to relocate to your country to continue my  education and life over there. This country is no longer safe for my continual stay because every day here I am living under the fear of those my late father's relatives. I am no longer living in my family house because they might try to kill me since they want to inherit all my late father's properties.
 
I am now living in a guest house here and I want to move out of the country finally with this funds and I need your help. If you agree to help me, I will compensate you with 15% of the total sum and also you will manage this funds in any good investment while I will continue my studies and every income made will be shared between us.
 
Thank you and I look forward to your positive response.
 
 
Yours sincerely,
Aicha. 
 

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