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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: "Johnson Elite" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <john_elit01@yahoo.com.my>
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2014 03:42:06 -0800
Subject: Hello ,,,,,

My Dear,
 
It is by the grace of God that I received Christ, knowing the truth and the truth have set me free. Having known the truth, I had no choice than to do what is lawful and right in the sight of God for eternal life and in the sight of man for witness of God mercy and glory upon my life. I have the pleasure to share my testimony with you, I am Johnson Elite, the legal adviser to late Mr. and Mrs. Bright Williams, a British couple that lived in my Country for 25 years before they both died in a plane crash late last year.
 
These couples were good Christians, they were so dedicated to God but they had no child till they died. Throughout their stay in my country, they acquired a lot of properties like lands, house properties, as their legal adviser, before their death, the husband Mr. Bright Williams instructed me to write his WILL. Because they had no child, they dedicated their wealth to Fund According to the WILL, the properties have to be sold and the money be given out to a ministry for the work of God. As their legal adviser, all the documents for the properties were in my care. He gave me the authority to sell the properties and give out the fund to the Ministries for the work of God. In short, I sold all the properties after their death, as instructed by Mr. Bright Williams before his death. A matter of fact, after I sold all their properties, I realized more than $5.000,000.00 (Five million US dollars and agreement between me and the owner of the p roperties before
his death.
 
Therefore the total amount realized to be invested into God's work as instructed by the owner, is $3 MILLION USD only. But Instead of giving the fund out for the work of God as instructed to me by the owner before his death. I converted the fund to myself with the intention of investing the fund abroad for my personal use.
 
I gave my life to Christ and became a born again Christian. As a born again Christian, I have asked God for forgiveness and I know that God have forgiven me. But I have to do what is lawful and right in the sight of God by giving out the fund to ministry/individual for the purpose of God's work as instructed by the owner before his death. I then came across your address on the Internet as I was browsing through a Christian site, and as a matter of fact, it is not only you or your ministry that I picked on the Christian site initially, but after my fervent prayer over it, you were nominated to me through divine revelation from God, if you know that you will use this fund honestly and wisely for things that will glorify God's name. You forward to me your (1) full name (2) home address (3) occupation (4) date of birth(5) telephone/fax numbers for easy communication and to prepare the vital documents in your name as the sole beneficiary of the funds.
 
Yours in Christ.
Johnson Elite

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