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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: Orphan Organisation <orphanhomeorganisation@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2014 12:57:33 +0200
Subject: GOD BLESS YOU AS YOU REPLY ME URGENT

>From Marima Ezequel,

My name is Marima Ezequel 21 years old Unfortunately, I 'm now an
orphan as my mother died when I was 5year old. My father recently died
of food poison in 2010. Since his death things has completely changed
and my life became miserable. my uncle, accepted me in his house . At
first, I was ok even though his wife was too hostile. She treates me
as slaves in my uncle's house.

Presently she has influenced her husband and life is now like hell to
me. They have changed my father's personal assets to their name. The
way things is going I'm afraid that they might decide to kill me or
poison me as they did to my father in order to inherit all that my
father owns.

For safety, I decided to run away from the house. I'm now in a hidden
place very far from the town. My purpose of contacting you is because
I need to come to your country secretly so that my uncle will not know
my whereabout. I have here some documents which my father gave to me
secretly before he died in the hospital about his secret for the money
which he deposited with finance company is $8.500,000.00 (Eight
million Five Hundred Thousand United sate dollars) I have verified
this with the Finance Company before contacting you.

I shall require your help to transfer this money to your country so
that i will continue my education. Immediately after the transfer, I
will come to live with you. I will give you every information you need
after I hear from you. I am in a sincere desire of your humble
assistance in this regards. Your suggestions and ideas will be highly
regarded. I have plans to do investment in your country, like

1).Télécommunication
2).The Transport Industry
3).Five Star Hotel
4).Real Estate or other profitable investment.

If you can be of an assistance to me I will be pleased to offer to you
15% of the total fund. I await your soonest response.
marima.ezequel@hotmail.com

Best Regards.
Yours Sincerely
Marima Ezequel

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