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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: Celine Shareef <celine.shareef@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: celine_shareef@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2013 02:47:58 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: My dear greetings to you,


























































































My
dear greetings to you,
 
I crave your indulgence at this mail coming from
somebody you have not known before. I decided to do this after praying over the
situation. You should please consider the transaction on its content and not the
fact that you have not known me before. I need not dwell on how I came by your
contact information because there are many such possibilities these
days.
 
My name is Mrs. Aicha Shareef, from Benin Republic, widow to Late
Mr. B. Shareef (former Minister of Tourism and Culture Benin Republic). I have
been recently been diagnosed of Cancer of the pelvis. I am writing you from my
sick bed.
 
There is this USD$17.2M (Seventeen Million Two Hundred
Thousand American Dollars) my husband has in an account with the Africa
Development Bank Benin Republic of which I am the next of kin. With my health
condition and because my husband and I have no children, I am looking for a
credible person to whom I will pass the right of next of kin. This person will
apply to the bank and request for the transfer of the fund to his/her bank
account. This is on the condition that you will take 25% of the fund for
yourself, 5% used for expenses, while you will use the remaining 70% for the
less privilege people in the society. This is in fulfillment of the last request
of my husband that a substantial part of the fund be used to carter for the less
privileged.
 
I cannot do this my self any more. I once asked members of
my family to close one of my late husband’s bank accounts and donate the money
which I have there to the less privilege people in the society; they refused and
kept the money to themselves. Hence, I do not trust them anymore, as they seem
not to be contended with what I have left for them. If this condition is
acceptable to you, you should contact me immediately with your full names and
contact information so that I will ask our family lawyer to prepare the
authorization that will give you the right of next of kin to the account in the
bank. I will also give you a text of the application you are to send to the
bank.
 
I cannot predict what will be my fate by the time the fund will be
transferred into your account, but you should please ensure that the fund is
used as I have described above.
 
Reply to this Email aichsharee@yahoo.com.sg
 
Best regards to
you and your family,
 
Remain bless,
Yours sister,
Mrs. Aicha
Shareef.
  


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