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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: "Miss Susan HERBERT" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ax123@westci.net>
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 11:22:41 +0100
Subject: From. HERBERT Susan

Hello,

My name is Miss Susan Herbert from Serria Leone adopted daughter of Late Mr.Gue Herbert ; we resides in Ivory Coast. Please I need your assistance to secure my inheritance which I inherited from him ,the sum of $ 8,200,000.00 (eight Million, Two Hundred Thousand United States Dollars).which he willed to me before his death as his adopted daughter.

What I need from you is to provide account where to transfer this fund and to invest it for me in your country while I further my education when I join you because the wife of Late.Mr.Gue Herbert is not happy about the money I inherited from the family due to religion differences; therefore I need to transfer it out of here as fast as possible.

I will send you the documents when I hear from you and also I will offer you 10% of the total money for providing account and assistance and 30% of any profit made out of the money when invested in your country. We will discuss more when I hear from you.Let this be as a top secret between me and you for security reasons and for my future.

Regards,
Miss Susan Herbert

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