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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: "Margret Williams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <margretwilliams@mail.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 02:04:20 -0800
Subject: Can i trust the money to you?

 
 
Dearest in the Lord,
I am sorry  if i may have intruded into your privacy  by locating your profile,However i have a good message for you and with good faith i am confidence you will never regret accepting the contents.This however is not mandatory nor will I in any manner compel you to honor against your will. Your profile pushed me to send you this mail.
I am Mrs. Margret Williams,widow of Late Funsho Williams,a renowned contractor and astute politician who was assassinated on the  27 of  July,2006 in Nigeria due to his political ambition to become governor of one of the states in Nigeria. We were married for eleven years without a child.After his death ,I decided not to remarry or get a child outside my matrimonial  home due to my faith as a Christian  rather i relocated to United States where i am presently seeking asylum because those who assassinated my husband were threatening to come after my life.
Before the gruesome assassination of my late husband and because we operate a joint bank account,we have left a total deposit of US$4.8 million dollars in one of the major banks in Nigeria,The United Bank for Africa.Presently i have been receiving emails and notifications from the bank informing me of the dormancy of the account and their intention to liquidate the funds if i make no effort to retrieve the money from the bank or reactivate the account since it has been well over eight years we  last operated on the account.
This has been a very disturbing information to me because presently i am very sick in US here with cancer and have a flight phobia so i could not possibly fly down to Nigeria to dialogue with the bank over the money.
As a matter of fact,I have been waiting for an opportunity to dispose the money to any known organization or individual who will make use of the money for orphanages and charity and perhaps this might be the best opportunity hence i have located your profile through the internet. This is another election year in Nigeria and when i flash back i could not help but remember how my beloveth husband was murdered in his cold blood because of his quest for power and riches.This is the reason i have resolved in this new year to giving the riches to anyone that could lay his hands on any profitable venture that will benefit him and the other people in the society and that was until i am able to browse across your profile to find you suitable.
If this will please you i will like to trust over the  whole money($4,800,000 Four million,eight hundred thousand dollars only.) to you.I am not  just giving the money to you alone but that you may disperse part of the money to charity..This is out of my magnanimity and for the remembrance of my late late husband.There are many under privileged and displaced persons all over the street of the world,I want you to take care of as many as you can using part of the money.
kindly write back to me  and as soon as I receive your reply I shall give you more viable information to connect  the bank and receive the money.
Any delay in your reply will give me room in sourcing of another organization or good person for this same purpose.
Kindly reply meback onmy email:margretwilliams@mail.com
Thanks
Yours sister in Christ.
 
Mrs Margaret Williams

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