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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: williams catim <williamscatim04@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <wcatim@yahoo.fr>
Date: Thu, 15 May 2014 18:46:39 +0100
Subject: Hello dearest


Hello dearest

Please permit my introduction. My name is Williams and my sister's name is Suzan. I am 19 years of age. We are from Republic of Sierra Leone. I found your contact address through my late father's international business directory and I decided to contact you to seek your kind assistance in helping us to relocate to your country for further studies and for investment of the money we inherited from our late father. We lost our parents few months ago in a ghastly motor accident. My mother died instantly when the accident happened but my father sustained a very severe injury which resulted to his untimely death four days after he was rushed down to a private hospital. May there soul rest in perfect peace. My late father spent his whole life in the building and construction industry as an engineer. He left behind for us eight million three hundred thousand dollars which according to him he realized from the execution of some government contracts that was awarded to him and some of his colleagues in the office. Before he died at the hospital he told me that he deposited the money in the bank in a neighboring country called Ivory coast. He advised me not to let his half brother to know about the money because he suspected he was the person that masterminded the mysterious accident. He advised me to look for somebody in a country of my choice abroad who can assist us and secretly transfer the money abroad so that we can invest it in real estate and distance his half brother.

We chose to finally relocate to your peaceful country with this money so that you can guild us and invest it properly in real estate. We will also further our college education under your guardianship. I am writing to seek your kind help and advice if it will be possible for you to assist me and my little sister achieve our dream of relocating to your peaceful country with this money, for investment of the money and further studies. Please if you cannot be able to assist us to transfer this money to your country, you tell me so that l will look for another person because l sent this mail to you before.

We are now in Ivory Coast and have succeeded in locating the bank where my late father deposited the money and have identified our self properly and also informed them about the sad fate my parents had suffered. The bank confirmed the deposit document and said that my late father deposited the money in their bank escrow suspense account for safe keep. So i will need your help in the following ways, to stand as our overseas guardian so that the bank can release and transfer the money to your bank account and then make arrangement for a good business investment which you will invest with the money on our behalf. I hope with your help we will have the money successfully transferred to your country and we will have a better life to live in your country under your guardianship.

It is true that i do not know you in person but i pray and hope that you have it in your heart to assist us with all sincerity and honesty. You will guild us and invest the money in real estate and also manage the investment until we are capable. Please if you can help us, i will want you to send your contact information that the bank can use to contact you so that i can make your name available to the bank as my late father's overseas business partner and guardian that will attest on our behalf for the release of the money. I am willing to give you any amount which you will wish to have after helping us achieve our dream of relocating to your country with this money. Thank you and May God bless you and your family as you help us achieve our dream of relocating to your country to start a new life and further our education under your guardianship.

Sincerely
Williams & Suzan Catim

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