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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. Vanessa Khalid" <ecalderon@ucsc.cl>
Reply-To: "Mrs. Vanessa Khalid" <mrsvanessakhalid@wss-id.org>
Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:34:57 -0300 (CLST)
Subject: PROPOSAL FROM MRS. VANESSA KHALID.

Compliment of the day to you my dear,

Do kindly allow me crave your indulgence in introducing myself to you, I go by the name Mrs. Vanessa Khalid, I''m a 59 years old widow diagnosed of coloratura cancer. I was lawfully married to Late Engineer Abdul-Ghassan Osman Khalid, who naturally died after a brief illness. My husband was quite a loving and hard working person as he was into private engineering practice before his death, but he unfortunately passed away leaving me all he labored for his entire life. Our life together as Husband and wife lasted for thirty years without a child and due to our helpless state of childlessness, my husband and I vowed to uplift the Less-privilege and helpless orphans as he had great passion for persons who can not help themselves due to physical disability or misfortune. I can adduce this to the fact that he needed a Child from our fruitless marriage, which unfortunately never came. Most Recently, my surgeons admitted to the medical fact that I've only got limited number of days to live due to the resurfacing of my cancerous ailment and my battle for survival has been on ever since I was diagnosed of this deadly disease. What really bothers me the most is the fact that my cancer surgical doctors have successfully carried out all possible cancer therapies including cancer chemotherapy and the last one was called radiation but my state has remained helpless as yet, they have therefore suggested I be referred to hospice, i.e. cancer intensive medical care unit. And I''m afraid I may just have to accept the obvious fact that I''ve only got little or no chance of survival.

In anticipation of this tragic and quite unfortunate reality that has befallen a widow like myself, I have decided to make a selfless donation of the entire funds derived from my late husband''s vast estates and investments in capital market to you and I want you to use this gift of Good-Will which comes from my husbands effort to fund the upkeep of widows, widowers, orphans, destitute, the down-trodden, physically challenged children, barren-women and persons who prove to be genuinely handicapped financially. Our bank recently estimated the funds to have reached an approximated sum of twelve million great British Pounds (£12,000,000.00). I''ve therefore taken what I consider the biggest decision of my life, to use this money in touching and affecting the lives of does in dear need of it because that''s exactly what I consider true generosity, you give your all, and yet you feel like it cost you absolutely nothing. Give, and it shall be given to you For whatever measure you deal out to others, it will be dealt to you in return. I have therefore been touched by the Almighty to take this kind heart decision of giving in the spirit of true selflessness since I do not have any child of my own that will inherit our wealth, except for little Elizabeth and Diana whom I adopted some years ago after the death of my husband because I actually needed some one around to show motherly love and care, they will both clock 5 and 7 this year and are doing pretty well in their studies because I have made them a Trust-Fund that will be more than enough to see them through school and thus secure them a very bright future. I feel so fulfilled each time they both call me "mum", how nice...

I must also have to admit to the fact that my late husband''s relatives are bourgeois and never approved of the idea of him getting married to an English woman, and I do not want my husbands hard earned wealth to be misused or invested into ill perceived ventures, so I want to avoid a situation where this money will be spent in an ungodly manner, hence my reason for taking this bold decision. I will die a happier woman when given the full assurance that quite a reasonable share of my late husband''s wealth will be used in turning around the life of the needy in our society and I would be most grateful if you would find it in your conscience to help set up and run a charitable home on my behalf. I am not afraid of death hence I know where I am going. I can''t possibly take any telephone calls in this regard due to my deteriorating state of health. As soon as I get a word of acceptance from you I shall immediately provide you with further instructions on how to secure release of the funds from my bank. I will also issue you a letter of Authority that will empower you as the original beneficiary to the funds. My greatest joy is that I lived a life worthy of emulation. Do please assure me you will be making very good use of the funds in absolute accordance to my humanitarian wish and though I haven''t met with you in person but the Spirit of God has asked me to go ahead and do this, I therefore trust and hope you pursue this noble charitable course by reaching out to the less-privileged once in your locality. May you be granted the much needed courage to take up this humanitarian course for the benefit of those in dare need.

You are to immediately get back across to me through this email: mrsvanessakhalid@wss-id.org for further details through my Solicitor to receive this inheritance.

Kindest Regards,

Mrs. Vanessa Khalid.

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