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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: "Maureen Brooks" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <maurbrooks@yahoo.com.ph>
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2015 10:04:24 -0700
Subject: [**SPAM**] YOU ARE RICHLY BLESSED

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am Maureen Brooks. I am 61 years old. I am suffering from
long time cancer of the breast. My late husband was killed during the Gulf war, and during the period of our
marriage we had a son who was also killed in a cold blood during the Gulf war. My late husband was very
wealthy and after his death, I inherited all his business and wealth. I am Soliciting assistance for this
purpose and have prayed over it. I am willing to donate the sum of US$15M to the motherless babies, the
needy, poor, charity homes and widows too.

Lastly,I want you to be praying for me as regards my entire life and my health because I have come to find
out since my spiritual rebirth that wealth acquisition without Jesus Christ in one's life is vanity upon vanity.
REPLY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
Remain richly blessed.
Maureen Brooks

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