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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 Smith <cel_smith0002@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 07:28:47 -0700
Subject: Please i need your urgent reply if you are Willing to help me.

Hello dear, I know that you will be surprised to receive my mail. Please, i
would like to tell you about my self without delay and also to hint you of
my whole concern, i am Celine Smith from Mali, 23 years of age. I am the
only survivor in my family because my junior sister and brother were killed
together with my late parents and i was saved because i was not in the
house when the attackers came. I am an orphan because i lost my both
parents and loved family members in the nonsense Civil war that took place
in my country Mali but i am presently in Accra- Ghana because of the war
and here is where my late father was living earlier and worked in the gold
mining sector before he retired and came back to Mali where my parents met
their untimely death in the unscheduled civil war that broke out.
In this process, i have an inheritance of Gold Bars from my late father
which is deposited with one of the prime security companies here in Accra
Ghana and i am the next of kin being the first child of my late parents and
now I need your honest help and i want the gold to be withdrawn from the
coffers of the Security company where it's deposited to be sold for valued
money outside Ghana and i will need you to stand beside me to successfully
carry out this because i don't want to do it alone and loose the gold.

The gold bars are 39 KG with purity of 98% hence i have the papers
correctly with me and have established ownership with the company. Now i
want you to help me to get the gold out from the coffers of the security
company and i would like it to be delivered to you while i come over
immediately to meet you so that we will sell it and you help me to invest
the proceeds into a good and lucrative business over there where you will
supervise and manage it for me. Though this decision is very tough and hard
to take but i have decided to take it because i am fade up and no longer
interested to live here in Accra- Ghana.

Please let me hear from you to give you all details of the company so that
we will begin the process of withdrawing and shipping it down there while i
come over immediately. Meanwhile i would like you to take 20% of the total
proceeds of the entire gold after sales and i would also like to know the
price of Gold over there. Please i am in a critical situation now and i
need immediate help from you. Please your urgent response is highly needed
because of my present situation.
Yours Celine

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