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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: "Mrs.Jewel Annemarie Nicholaou" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <Jewelannemarie@yandex.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2016 03:45:39 -0800
Subject: PLEASE USE THIS FOR THE SAID PURPOSE

Dearly Beloved .
 
Due to the prevailing crimes going on online these days, all mails are treated with suspicion even if they convey good messages and carry good intentions.
 
My believe that there could still be legitimate transactions or contacts through the internet prompted me to send this mail to you after prayers. In this present world, the issue of trust and who to trust is lacking greatly but I believe there are people out there who can be trusted, worked with, and co-operated with for a mutual interest. Such men and women of God fearing, such as you who can be trusted to stand for the poor and less privilege, motherless and Orphans around the world is needed now.
 
I am Mrs.Jewel Annemarie Nicholaou , I am 72 years old from Crete, Greece. I am deaf and suffering from a long time cancer of the Lungs which also affected my brain and the last test from my medical team confirms  that I may not live to see the next six months. I was married to my late husband for Forty-Six years without a child. My husband died in a fatal motor accident. Before his death we were true Christians and worked for the Greek Ministry of Defence.In the year1990/95 we diverted and personally sat on part of the Arms aid fund from the Greek government to Serbia worth about Thirty Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars.This Aid was intended by the Greek government to assist Serbia against Macedonians living in Kosova and Albania during the Balkan conflict.
 
My husband and I felt that disbursing these fund and placing the full order for Arms from Ukrain was to support and encourage the genocide in the Former Yugoslavia, hence we rescinded from placing the full other and over invoiced the cost of the arms netting the amount.($10.5M) and we placed Greek soldiers under NATO and UN central command to avoid cost. Bloodshed was avoided and the conflict was not allowed to spread to Macedonia and Albania.We placed this money in Saves and deposited it in a Security company until all things get cool and no suspicion raised.We had prepared three balance sheets and two reports of the war before I resigned  17 years ago.Presently, this money is still with them and the management just wrote me as the true owner to come forward to receive the money for keeping it so long or rather issue a letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my behalf since I can not come over because of my illness lest it gets confiscated.
 
I have since lost my ability to talk and my doctors have told me  that I have only a few months to live, hence, It is my last wish to see that this money is invested to any organization of your choice and distributed each year among the charity organizations, the poor and the motherless babies.I am still more concerned about Sudanese children, Palestinians,Kosovars, Philippines,Iraq, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, India and many less privileged in this world of Injustice and wars.I want you of God fearing to also use this money to fund churches,orphanages,Temples, Mosques and widows.I took this decision before I rest in peace because my time will soon be up.
 
As soon as I receive your reply, my lawyer shall give you the contact of the Security Company.He will also issue you a letter of authority that will approve you as the new beneficiary of my fund. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I stated herein and that this fund will not be diverted for personal or selfish reasons nor be used to aid or sponsor terrorism. I shall wait at your prayerful reply.
 
 
Yours Truly,
 
Mrs.Jewel Annemarie Nicholaou
 

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