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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: "Mrs. Victoria Acme" <victoriacme@thedivinemail.com>
Reply-To: victoriaacme@thedivinemail.com
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:10:32 +0000
Subject: Mission

Hi Dear,

My name is Mrs. Victoria Acme. I am 63 years old. I am a dying woman who has decided to donate what I have to you for charity/ motherless babies/less privileged in the world. I was diagnosed for cancer for about 2 years ago. I have been touched by God to donate from what I have inherited from my late husband to you for good work of God. I have asked God to forgive me and believe he has because he is a merciful God. I will be going in for an operation next week.

I got your contact from a business directory and picked you randomly for this project. I decided to donate the sum of $9.8 Million US Dollars to you for the good work of God. I know this may come as a surprise to you as you do not know me at all but I have prayed over this and out of all the contacts I was able to get from the internet, the holy spirit has directed me to donate these funds to you. I do not want to take credit for any of these as life is vanity. We came to this world empty and will surely return back to the lord empty. I have lived my life in sin and have prayed to God to forgive my sins. At the moment I cannot take any telephone calls right now due to the fact that my relatives (That have squandered the funds I gave them for this purpose before) are around me and my health status also.

If you will accept this offer, I will be very grateful. My family lawyer will make take care of the legal procedure to complete the transfer of the funds to you. I want you to reply me with your full name, address and telephone number so that I can give it to my lawyer. Once I receive your response, I will also give you my lawyers contact details for you to open communication with him. All I ask of you is to make sure that you use this money for the work of God and service to humanity. I know I don't know you but I have been directed to do this by God. I wish you all the best and may the good God bless you abundantly as you work toward this humanitarian mission.

Lastly, I want you to pray for me regarding my health, because I have come to find out that wealth acquisition without God in one's life is vanity upon vanity. If you have to die, says the Lord: keep fit and I will give you the crown of life. I believe we serve the same God and that we are all going back to him when we die. May the Grace of our Lord, the love of God, and the sweet fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you now and forever more, Amen. You can reply directly to my email: victoriaacme@thedivinemail.com

Your sister in the lord

Mrs. Victoria Acme

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