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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: "Janet Orton" <ortjanet@yeah.net>
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 17:48:01 +0800 (CST)
Subject: Greetings from Janet

Greetings from Janet

I am Miss. Janet Mariam 20 year’s old girl, the only surviving member of a family that was crushed in a bomb-blast during the war in Libya. Currently, I am in a refugee camp here in Abidjan. I came here due to the information my father gave me about a fund which was deposited in foreign bank in Ivory Coast. He gave me files and information about the fund before he died.

When my father whom was a crude oil merchant was alive, he had plans to use the last days of his lives to disburse part of his resources to charity organization and several unknown individuals because when he were much younger in life as a young businessman, he received financial help from an unknown individual whom he have not met till this day. The impact he got from such gesture made him want to do the same.

Unfortunately, my father is not alive today to do this and my condition now as an Orphan I have decided it on the behalf of the family to give 25% the total fund to a family that will adopt me into their family and help me to transfer the fund to their country. The remaining 75% will be used for me and my education. The total amount in the bank is the sum of Three Million Eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars America ($3,850,000).

Please acknowledge my message for more details.

Sincerely,

Miss. Janet Mariam

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