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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. Flore Kawan and son Kevin." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <fitr@bol.com.br>
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 17:52:39 +0300
Subject: Important Message from Mrs. Flore Kawan and son Kevin.

Hello dear,
 
My name is Mrs. Flore Kawan from Sierra-Leone. But I live in Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire here with my only child Kevin a 17 years old boy. I am presently suffering from long time disease which started immediately I came back from the village for my late husband's funeral. Well I do not want to bore you with my situations.
 
Why I contacted you is because I have some funds $7.5Million which I inherited from my late husband, and I need your assistance to help me receive this money in your account in your country and use part of it for the well-being of the poor in your country or elsewhere in the world and leave part for my son Kevin to come over to your country to further his education.
 
I am willing to offer you $1.2Million out of this money for your assistance. I also mapped out $250,000 for you to cover any expenses which you may incur in seeing to the success of this money transfer to your account. If you are interested, please reply urgently for more details.
 
Thanks and may God bless you.
Yours beloved sister,
Mrs. Flore Kawan and son Kevin.
Email: fitr@bol.com.br

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