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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: Ruth Smith <decoflorale.sabinemichel@hotmail.fr>
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 14:39:53 +0200
Subject: =?windows-1256?Q?From_Miss_?= =?windows-1256?Q?Ruth_Smith?=
=?windows-1256?B?/v7+/v4=?=

Hello My Dear,

My name is Miss Ruth Smith, I am a female and the only child to late top cocoa dealer Mr. Paul Smith who died as a result of food poisoning suspected to be given to him by the plans of his colleaques and relatives because of his fame and wealth, my mother died when I was 6 years old. I inherited a total The said fund is ($5.500,000) Five million five hundred thousand United State Dollars. US, has been deposited into one of the bank.

And i am are afraid something not happen to me in school premises,That is the reason why we contacted you as an honest person so that you can help us in transferring my late fathers money into your bank account.

The reason he deposited the money was because of the political problems that is going on in this country. My Dear what i am telling you is that i am just a young girl and there is little or nothing i could do on my own and again if my late father relative find out that my late father left that kind of money in my care i don't know what they might do to me,

So i need you to help me contact the bank and claim the deposited Item for me as my late father business partner and Guandian, and take me along with you. If you do this for me apart from the love i will also offer you 20% of the total money for helping me.

Please i requested for your trust and understanding because it might sound unbeleivable but it is the truth. As soon as posible. Get back to me.

Sincerely,
Miss Ruth Smith.

Anti-fraud resources: