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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: "Nadia Zaid" <m-gurdon@t-online.de>
Reply-To: nadia_zaid@ymail.com
Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2012 14:37:55 +0100
Subject: Beloved God Bless You,

>From Miss Nadia Zaid,
My dearest, I greet you and your family in the name of God, I am aware that this is not a formal approach to begin a relationship with you or even to explain why I contacted you, but as time passes, you will realize the need and confidentiality of my approach also I know this letter is going to come as a surprise since we do not know each other in person before, but if this message comes out of your desire, I'm sorry. I hope you will read this message and understand how things can be difficult for someone [me] in a certain period in life because of tragedy that befalls me in the lost of my entire family as a result of war in my country. I present my self to you with all faith, trust and hope that you will understand in the end.

My name is Nadia Zaid, 21 years old, the only surviving child of late Mr. Ben. Amah Zaid from Douke region, in the Republic of Ivory Coast. My father, before he died, he was the President of Ivory Coast Cocoa Producers and Exporters Union. My father was killed along with my mother and my brother when the rebels attacked my village in the city of Douke during the political war in my country Ivory Coast. When the rebels attacked my village in Douke, more than hundreds of people were killed by the rebels that included my family, but my father died after seven days in the hospital because he was seriously wounded during the attack. Before his death, my father had planned to purchase and import some cocoa processing machines to open another factory but unfortunately, he failed in his plan due to the war that broke out in my country which leads to his untimely death, but my late father before he died told me in the hospital that he saved the funds in a trunk box which he deposited for safety keeping in a security company. The total amount is USD5.2M (Five million two hundred thousand US dollars).

At this time, as an orphan girl and the only survival of my parent, I really need your help to bring this money to your country for investment purposes such as manufacturing and real estate management or other good business investment that we can invest the money, this is the most important reason that I contacted you for help since security here can not be guaranteed, and I've lost my family and my father's business was burned down during the rebel attack.
Right now I'm in great confusion because the security company relocated the property to their overseas branch office, so please I am asking you to do me a favour by standing as my guardian to claim this property also transfer the money on my behalf to your country after which I will come and live with your family. I don’t want to return the box in my country here because I have suffered so much pain since I lost my family, I have made up my mind to come and invest in your country if you will accept me. Please I will want you to take me as your own relation and honestly help me and I promise to reward you kindly after you assisted me.

Please I am expecting your urgent response as soon as possible.
Thank you and God Almighty bless you,
Yours faithfully,
Nadia Zaid


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