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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. Marie Rajie" <mrajie@live.com>
Reply-To: <marie_rajie1@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2010 11:31:15 -0700
Subject: Dearest Friend I Need Your Urgent Reply,

Dearest Friend,
Greetings to you in the name of God, I want you to be my beneficiary if
God will in his infinite mercies touch your heart to handle this project
the way I promised, I will be so much glad; I am reaching you from a
private hospital.
I am an orphan and a single woman originated from United States of
America. I have lived in United Kingdom for over 25 years doing my
Jewelries business, I have been suffering from a long time cancer of the
breast and became deaf after series of injections that affected my ear
drum.
Presently, I'm with my laptop in a hospital where I have been undergoing
treatment for cancer. Since I lost my organ of hearing and my doctors
wrote to me on a paper that I have only few months to live, It is my last
wish to see that the $1,550,000.00M USD I have in the bank should be
distributed each year among the charity organizations, the poor and the
motherless babies home where I came from, please you have to use this
money accordingly. Give me this information if I can trust you and I will
write to the hospital attorney to prepare the legal document on your name
as my beneficiary.
Full Name
Age/Sex
Contact phone number
Address
Occupation
Marital status
Country
Send me this information and with the subject to your response I will write to
the hospital Attorney to draft an agreement to seal up this fund in your name
and you can also deal with the bank directly if you wish. Please assure me that
you will actaccordingly as I stated herein. Hoping to hear from you soon.
Please you must treat this as personal matter as God will bless you for helping the
charities.

Sincerely yours,
Mrs. Marie Rajie.

Anti-fraud resources: