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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: =?UTF-8?B?IlN1c2FuIFlha2NvIg==?= <mralitarhou74@terra.com.pe>
Date:
Subject:

Dear God Select,

 
= I am writing this mail to you with heavy = tears in my eyes and great sorrow in my heart, my name is Mrs. Susan Yakco,= and I am contacting my country Tunisia I want to tell you this because I h= ave no choice but to I tell her how I moved to open up to you, I married a = Mr.Yakco Brown, who worked with Tunisia embassy in Burkina Faso for nine ye= ars before he died in the year 2005.We were married for eleven years withou= t a child.
 

<= span style=3D"font-family:baskerville old face,serif;">He died after a brief illness that lasted for only five days.= Since his death I decided not to remarry, When my late husband was alive h= e deposited the sum of US $ 8,500,000 (eight million five hundred thousand = dollars) in a bank in Ouagadougou the capital of Burkina Faso in West Afric= a In currently this money is still in bank. He made this money available fo= r exportation of gold mining Burkina Faso.
 
Recently, my Doctor told me t= hat I would not last for the period of seven months due to cancer problem. = The one that disturbs me most is stroke sickness. Having known my condition= I decided to give this money to care for the disadvantaged, this money wil= l be used the way I am going to instruct herein.
 

I want you to take 30 P= ercent of the total money for your personal use While 70% of the money will= go to charity, people on the street and help the orphanage. I grew up as a= n orphan and have no one as a member of my family, only to end in favor of = the house of God is maintained. I'm doing this for God to forgive my sins a= nd accept my soul because I have suffered both these diseases
 

As soon as= I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the bank in Burkina F= aso, and will instruct the Bank Manager to issue a letter of authority that= will prove you the present beneficiary of the money in the bank is that if= I ensure that you will act accordingly as I Stated herein.
 

Always respo= nd to my alternative for security reasons
hoping to receive your reply:
 <= /span>

Mrs. Su= san yakco.
 

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