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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 <eduardo@vpi.com.br>
Reply-To: linfons.william@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 11:09:31 +0200
Subject: Re: Resp sir

Hello dearest

Please permit my introduction. My name is Alfonso and my sister's name
is Linda. I am 19 years of age while my little sister is 15. We are from
Republic of Sierra Leone.

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. My late father advised me while on
the sick bed to use his international business directory to look for a
reliable person in a country of my choice who can assist me and my
little sister transfer the money to America so that we can move on with
his real estate investment dream in overseas. I found your contact
address while going through my late father's company business directory
and I decided to contact you to seek your kind assistance in helping me
and my little sister to relocate to your country for further studies and
for investment of the money we inherited from our late father.

My late father left behind 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 a fix deposit account in the bank in a neighbouring country
called Ivory coast and that he wanted to use the money for real estate
investment in America. 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 so that he will inherit his properties as our
culture demands.

I saw your contact address and i decided to contact you to give out our
trust to you. I am only 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 for further studies. I and my little sister
have chosen to live under your guardianship so that you can guild us and
invest the money in real estate. We will also further our college
education under your guardianship. 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.

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 account. I hope with your help
and adverse experience 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 we 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 me and my little
sister, 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 since we are
still armature. 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
Alfonso & Linda Williams

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