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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: "Mrs Juliet John" <julietxjohn@gmail.com>
Reply-To: julietxjohn@outlook.com
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2014 05:55:20 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: VERY URGENT

My beloved in the Lord,

I am Mrs Juliet Alexander John. I write to you from my sick bed in the hospital. I have been diagnosed of lung cancer and after several tests, the doctors told me I have 50-50
chances of survival. However, without wasting much of your time, I want you to know that my late husband, Mr. John Alexander had in his fixed deposit the sum of $12.5 million
before he died. He was a member of the Contract Procurement Unit of the Economic Community of West African States. Please, due to the deteriorating state of my health, I want to make sure this money is transferred to your designated bank account as soon as possible. If my health allows me, I would like to come to your country after the transfer of money to see if I can get real medical care as there are no good medical facilities here in Ghana

Please reply me as soon as possible and try to save my soul so I can give you detailed information and document relating to the money in the bank so that you can ask the bank to make the transfer of the funds to your bank account. If you agree to help me, I will inform the bank also intimating them of your application to transfer funds to your bank
account.

Please, I am waiting for your urgent response.

Remain blessed as you come to my aid.

Mrs. Juliet John Alexander

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