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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: "Mrs Ruth Smith." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrsruths@ymail.com>
Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2013 02:11:21 -0800
Subject: Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ///

Dearest Beloved,

I know that this letter might be a surprise to you, I came across your
email contact from my personal search and I instructed the doctor here in
this hospital to help me email you and I believe that you will be honest
to fulfill my final wish before I will die.

I am Mrs Ruth Smith from Belgium , I am 78 years old, I am deaf and
suffering from a long time cancer of the breast. From all indication my
condition is really deteriorating, and my doctor have courageously advised
me that I may not live beyond the next two months, this is because the
cancer stage has reached a critical extent, of which I am having
difficulties unable to move my entire body. I was brought up in a
motherless baby's home, and was married to my late husband for twenty
years without a child.

My husband and I are true Christians, we lived all day in Sierra Leone,
since he was working here as a contractor, but quite unfortunately,he died
in a fatal motor accident.Since his death I decided not to re-marry and
because of my bad state of health,I sold all my inherited belongings and
deposited all the sum of $28.3million dollars with a Barclays Bank Newton
Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Presently, this money is still in the Bank, and the management of the Bank
has wrote a letter to me as the rightful Legitimate beneficiary to come
forward to receive the money after keeping it for so long or rather issue
a letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my behalf since I
can not come over as a result of my present cancer illness situation,
otherwise they get it confiscated. Presently, I'm with my laptop computer
in a hospital where I have been undergoing treatment. I have since lost my
ability to talk and my doctor have told me that I have only a few months
to live.

It is my last wish to see that this money is invested in any organization
of your choice and distributed each year among the charity organization,
the poor and the motherless baby's home where I grew up from. I want your
good humanitarian,to also use this money to fund churches, orphanages and
widows around.

Please make sure %70 of this fund must go to the needy such as Motherless
Babies Home, churches, and Orphanage. While %30 is for you and your family
for your hand work. Please do as I directed you do not let me down because
I am dying here in the hospital, nobody to do this for me, as directed
from my doctor, I will die any moment from now, it just that some drugs
the doctor gave me keep that kept me alive till now.

I must let you know that this was a very hard decision, but I had to take
a bold step towards this issue because I have no further option. I hope
you will help see my last wishes to come true.

As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of my lawyer
to work and source for the required necessary and legal paper to proof you
as the accredited person I sent to receive the fund presently at the First
National Bank Newton Yorkshire, United Kingdom. I will also issue a letter
of authorization to the bank, which will prove that you are the rightful
beneficiary of my funds. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as
I stated herein. Hope to hear from you soonest.

I await your immediate and urgent response my beloved via this e-mail
address:mrsruths@ymail.com

Yours in Christ,

Mrs Ruth Smith.

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