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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: "Lim Jane" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <janelim200@hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 16:14:04 -0800
Subject: Hello

I'm 33 years of age, the only daughter of late Mr. and Mrs. James Limburg.
My father was a Gold Argents and a Cocoa Merchant in Accra (Ghana).Before the death of my father  in a private hospital there in Accra, he called me as his beloved daughter and told me that he has the sum of 7.5 m in a Bank which he personally hand over the certificate of the deposited fund to me as my inheritance.
His company was closed down because there was nobody to handle the company.
He used my name as his beloved daughter as the next of kin in depositing the fund. And said I should seek for a foreign partner in a country of my choice where I will transfer this money and use it for an investment purpose. I'm currently in America.
I humbly seek for your assistance, to help me to transfer this money in your account for investment, and to serve as a guardian of this fund. Since I am still a student, make arrangement for me to come over to your country to further my education. Please kindly get back to me by email and let me know if you can handle this.
Thanks as you make up your mind to help an orphan like me.
Miss.  Jane Limburg.

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