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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: "REV.CHRIS WILLIE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <revchriswillie01@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2012 02:08:41 -0500
Subject: Re: Notification of Bequest/ Kindly view the message for more details

St Benedict Parish
781 high road,
north finchley,
London N12 9QR
United Kingdom

Dear Beloved,



Notification of Bequest




On behalf of the Trustees and Executor of the estate of Late Dr Emmanuel Donnelly,I once again try to notify you as my earlier letter to you through the Post Office was returned undelivered.I hereby attempt to reach you via your e-mail address.I wish to notify you that late Dr Emmanuel Donnelly made you a beneficiary to his will.He left the sum of Nine Million United States Dollars (US9,000,000.00) to you in the codicil and last testament to his will.

Being a widely traveled man,he must have been in contact with you in the past or simply you were nominated to him by one of his numerous friends abroad who wished you good.Late Dr Emmanuel Donnelly until his death was an Ethical philosopher,former managing director and pioneer staff of a giant construction
company.He was a very devoted christian who loved to give out and devoted himself to writing books.His great philanthropy earned him numerous awards during his life time.Late Dr Emmanuel Donnelly Will is now ready for execution.

According to him this money is to support your personal endeavors and to help the poor and the needy.Please If I reach you as I am hopeful,endeavor to get back to me as soon as possible to enable the immediate execution of your portion of the bequest to enable earlier disbursement by the Paying Bank.You should forward along your telephone and fax numbers including a proof to confirm your identity as the beneficiary in question and your current mailing address if different from the above.Proof of Identity should be either International passport or drivers License.

I hope to hear from you immediately.

Yours in his service,

Rev.CHRIS WILLIE
Parish Priest

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