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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: Mawa <mawamamba60@hotmail.fr>
Reply-To: mambamawa@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2012 10:22:20 +0100 (BST)
Subject: AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE PLEASE:


AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE PLEASE:
>From Miss. MAWA MAMBA
Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
                                                 
It
is a pleasure for me to send this request to you though we do not know
each other. My name is Mawa Mamba, 20 years old; I am the only child of
late Chief and Mrs. Richard. Mamba. I prayed before contacting you and I
believed that you are the rightful person to help me out.

I wish
to request for your assistance in my efforts to procure the transfer of
my inherited money for investment ventures under your care and
directive, while I continue my education of there in your country.

I
inherited Six Million, Five Hundred Thousand Dollars (US$6,500,000.00)
here in my name with one of the prime bank in my country and I will
require your assistance in receiving the transfer of the money in your
local account for investment purposes.

It is my desire to come
over to your country to further my education while you take care of the
investment of the money. Please I am an orphan and I need your
assistance to transfer my inherited money to your country and also your
assistance to secure a nice school for me in your country, where I will
continue my education.

I offer you 15% of the total sum because of the help you are going to render to me.

Please I am waiting for your immediate response through my private email: mambamawa@yahoo.com

Thanks and may God bless you.

Yours  sincerely,
Mawa Mamba


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