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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: "Mr.Solomom William" <solmwillim@gmail.com>
Reply-To: solmwilliam@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 12:24:40 +0100
Subject: URGENT

Dear Friends,

It is indeed my pleasure to write you this letter, which I believe you
will be surprise as we are both complete strangers for the time being.

my name is Solomon William, i am 22 years old, I lost my parents 9
months ago in the Lydia Crisis due to Gadder's issues of which my
parents was among those that went against his ruler-ship my Mummy,
Elder Brother and my Daddy was a victim of the circumstances. My mummy
and daddy was a Gold merchant and was able to secure keeping 10kg of
gold and Two Million Dollars with a security company in Ghana.

Because my mummy is a Ghanaian and i am schooling in one of the school in Ghana.

The only assets which I knew about in Lydia or any other place and
which where reachable were all Destroyed but yet I lost them.The only
hope I have left at this moment is the 10kg gold and the Two Million
Dollars at the security company.

I need your assistance as my foreign partner/beneficiary to receive
this property in your country, as the agreement reached by the company
and my parents was that, in-case of any incidence, the gold should
only be released to a foreign beneficiary.After this claim is made
into your possession, Then you will please get me a Visa to come to
you as i need to continue my education. And I have come up with the
plans of offering you 30% of its total as my beneficiary, while 70%
will be for me or better still we can both invest with it together.

But please permit me to ask this few questions,

(1) Can you honestly and willingly help me? as this business is %100 risk free?.
(2) Can I completely trust you?

I awaits your reply so that I can send you more information on how the
claims should be made and with documents of proof. Also if you have a
yahoo account i can easily add you to my messenger for you to see me
live! Please i just need you to help me.

Best Regards,
Solomon William.

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