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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: celestine Chime <c_cube2000@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2011 08:51:04 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: i recieved this mail frm someone claiming to b a liberian refugee in senegal

Hello dearest , Thanks for your mailing.I pray that
the grace of God will be upon you so that you will
help me realized my dream with what is left
behind.I know it is don't going to be easy but
please consider me and give me a totally attention
as i believe you will have nothing to regret in this matter. In this camp we are not allowed to go out
the way we like.Its just like one staying in the
prison and i hope by Gods grace i will come out
here soon. i don't have any relatives now whom i
can go to all my relatives ran away in the middle of
the war the only person i have now is Dr. Cephas Edwin his is the camp supervisor here in the camp
he has been very nice to me since i came here but i
am not living with him rather i am leaving in the
women's hostel because the camp have two
hostels one for men the other for women The Dr.
Tel number is (+221-76-496 10 51 ) if you call and tell him that you want to speak with me he will send
for me in the hostel.
As a refugee here i don't have any right or privilege
to any thing be it money or whatever because it is
against the law of this country.I want to go back to
my studies because i only attended my first year before the tragic incident that lead to my being in
this situation now took place. Please listen to this,i
have my late father's Deposit Certificate and the
certificate is here with me which i will send to you
latter,because when he was alive he Deposited
some amount of money in one of the leading Bank in Europe which he used my name as the next of
kin,the amount in question is $3.8M(Three Million
Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars). So i will like you
to help me transfer this money to your account and
from it you can send some money for me to get my
traveling Documents and air ticket to come over to meet with you.I kept this secret to people in the
camp. So in the light of above i will like you to
keep it to yourself and don't tell it to
anyone for i am afraid of loosing my life and the
money if people gets to know about it. Already i
have informed this Bank about my intention to claim my late father's Deposit of which my name
appears as the next of kin. The only thing the Bank
told me is to look for a foreign partner who will
assist me in the transfer due to my refugee status
here in Senegal as a refugee i am not allowed direct
claim of the money but through an appointed representative as the united nation refugee law
governing refugee all over the world. Or in the
alternative, if you can help me to get the Camp
Clearance and Passport to come to join you then on
my arrival i will apply directly to bank myself so that
they will transfer the money in to your bank account. It is now left for you to choose which
option you prefer to help me. (1.) Either to agree to
represent me at the bank so that I can give you the
contact of the bank in London and all information
for you to
contact them directly so that they can transfer the money into your bank account. (2). Or to help me
come over to your country so that the bank can
transfer the money in to your bank account. I
promised to give you 10% of the total sum for your
assistance, while you will help me to manage my
own share of the money in any good investment in your country because i do not know much about
business. Honey these are the ways you can help
me.Waiting for your positive response. Your lovely,
Angela

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