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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: "Julie Thompson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <brenda_howell1981@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 01:28:19 -0700
Subject: Collect your Donation check from Rev. Brenda Howell.

Dear Beneficiary,
I am sure this mail will come to you as a surprise since we have never met before and you would also be asking why I have decided to chose you amongst the numerous internet users but consider it  a divine intervention for I saw your profile on the database which has made me accomplish my request. May the almighty God bless and see you through with this mission as you carefully read and understand the message below.
My name is Mrs Julie Thompson, 89 Years old woman and the wife of Late Eng.  Ernest Thompson who died in a Plane crash in September 1998 while flying from New York to Geneva. Please see site for more information.  (  http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9809/swissair.victims.list/index.html  ).
 
After the death of my husband I became the Head of his investments but now that I am old and weak I have decided to spend the rest of my life with my family and loved ones whom I never had time for during the course of my business life. Before the death of my husband we had plans to utilize the last days of our lives to donate half of our wealth to the less privilege and charity homes and the other half for ourselves, family members and close friends but it is very unfortunate that my husband is not alive today to witness this day with me hence I have decided to do this philanthropic work on behalf of my late husband and I. Presently i have willed out almost half of our assets to several charity homes and to some of the less privilege in different countries.
Despite the agreement between my late husband and I to give aid to the poor, we also agreed to render support to an individual we have never meet before in life due to the fact that when we were still young in life we receive an anonymous financial assistance from an individual we did not know and which we have not being able to know or meet again till date, the impact we got from such gesture made us want to do same. I am sorry to inform you that you will never have the chance to know me because I have just concluded the assignment which my husband and I have agreed upon before his sudden death and you happened to be the beneficiary of our last WILL, irrespective of your previous financial status, hence I need you to do me a favor by accepting our offer.
 
When i visited West Africa to sale off our estate and investment on behalf of my late husband, I realized the total sum of $2,950,000 USD which i instructed the bank to draft a Check in your name. Due to earlier promise to my late husband to make this donation anonymous , i contacted a Rev. sister by name Brenda Howell to keep the Check until you make contact so that she will send it to you. Contact Rev.Sister Brenda Howell to collect the check and make sure you extend this goodwill to the glory of God. The code that Sister Brenda will use to identify you is (Question : Where? Answer: World Peace ), Contact Rev. Brenda through the below contact and reconfirm your full name, Address and phone number for facilitated communication.
 
Name : Rev. Sister Brenda Howell
Email : ( brenda_howell1981@yahoo.co.jp )
Phone :     +22999784228
 
Note: Please I do not want you to thank me or my husband all I need you to do is to invest wisely with it and do the same good to someone’s life someday as this is the only way this world would be a better community if we render selfless services to one another.
 
Be also notified that I will no longer be reading my emails or surfing the internet as I have retired completely from the outside world to my ranch, at this moment I have nothing to do with cars, emails and other luxuries, all further correspondence should be forwarded to Rev. Brenda Howell for your check.
 
Yours Faithfully,
 
Mrs. Julie Thompson.

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