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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: williams addo nii <williamsaddonii30@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 2016 11:41:40 -0800
Subject: GOOD DAY

Good day my beloved ,Hope all is moving on well with you? My Name is Ramos
Hugh from Portugal, I have been diagnosed with cancer and it has defiled
all forms of medical treatment, and right now I have only about a few
months to live according to medical experts. I contacted you here in good
faith believing that you will help me to accomplish this task on behalf of
God's people, The needy and the less privileged all over the world .I made
a covenant to God to donate the sum of 1.5 million dollars for charity work
before my surgery operation comes up and i want you help me in distributing
the money.The money in question is already been deposited with the security
company in Rwanda and diplomat will deliver it to your door step. I have
not particularly lived my life so well, as I never really cared for anyone
(not even myself) but my business. Though I am very rich, I was never
generous.

I was always hostile to People and only focused on my business as that was
the only thing I cared for . But now I regret all this as I now know that
there is more to life than just wanting to have or make all the money in
the world. I believe when God gives me a second chance to come to this
world, I would live my life a different way from how I have lived it. I
want to have a Personal and Trustworthy Relationship with you, as I intend
and willing to empower the money to your personal possession for further
Investment and Charity Disbursement to the Less Privilege and Homeless I
will send you the photos of me and my very hopeless and selfish family
members, including my wife, who I learnt is getting married to my best
friend. Write to my personal email address for more details Thank you for
your due consideration, God be with you.(ramoshugh78@gmail.com)

Yours Brother in the lord
Ramos Hugh

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