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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: "Dora Adams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <doraadams602@yahoo.com.au>
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2013 02:50:02 -0800
Subject: Can you be of help Kindly Respond

Dearest one,
 
Compliments! I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise as we have never met before but based on what I am going through now, I feel quite safe to deal with you in this regard though this medium (Internet) has been greatly abused, however, I choose to reach you through this source as it still remains the fastest medium of Communication.
 
My name is Dora from Johannesburg. I am 18 years old and the only child of my parent. My mother died five (5) years ago while my father was murdered two (2) months ago by his step brothers who were my uncles due to disputes on family assets and properties. My father was the only son of his mother and his father married two wifes while the other woman has eight (8) children.
 
My father was the first born of the family and has a lot of responsibilities over the family assets and properties but the step brothers, my uncles are not happy about that and they poisoned him to dead inother to take over the family assets/properties alone. I had to run for my life because I know they would definitely want to kill me out of greed just the way they killed my father.
 
Presently, I am in a church for shelter as I have no one to run to. Before my father gave up the ghost, he intimated me over a fixed deposit of £5.5 Million British Pounds Sterling fixed with his bank in London. Please, I need your assistance to get this money transferred to any of your provided bank account in your country for my education and up-bringing as the money is too much for me to handle or manage for now as I am only 18.
 
I want you to be my guardian so that you can personally arrange for my trip to your country once the transfer is made to your provided bank account. I strongly believe you will be of immense assistance to accomodate this transaction but please you don't have to take undue advantage of my age to betray the trust I bestow on you. Remember the version of the bible that says, what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and loses his soul.
 
I want you to accept me like your own child and take good care of me until I grow up to be a woman. I am willing to offer you 20% of the fund for your role/assistance while the remaining 80% you will invest in your country and manage on my behalf until I am old enough to manager the investment. I would have love to speak with you on phone but I have no access to telephone for now and my only means of communication is through the internet.
 
May God touch your heart and use you to bring back happiness and joy to my life. I shall give you more details on the way forward as soon as I hear from you. Thank you for your time and may God bless you.
 
Your's Sincerely,
 
Dora

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