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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: "Mrs. Mary Williams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrsmarywilliams6@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2016 14:09:12 -0700
Subject: Greetings!

I greet you in the name of God Almighty. I got your contact through prayers and painstaking efforts in my search for a reliable and God fearing person to help me carry out my last wish. My name is Mrs. Mary Williams. At 55 years. I was a merchant and a business owner here. I was married with children but my husband and children died in a bomb blast in Iraq few years ago. Presently, I am very sick and hospitalized in U k London for cancer.

Before I became ill, I kept the sum of $35.7million With Alliance Security Finance Company in Madrid Spain, I'm in a hospital where I have been undergoing treatment for esophageal cancer. I have since lost my ability to talk and my doctors have told me that I have only a
few months to live. It is my last wish to see this money I deposited with the finance company be distributed to the needy and charity Organizations’.

After the death of my husband and children, I live without any next of kin and because relatives and friends have plundered so much of my wealth since my illness, I cannot live with the agony of entrusting this huge responsibility to any of them. Please, I beg you in the name of God to receive the fund from the finance company and distribute it to charity
organizations. Use your judgment to distribute the money and keep 50% of it to yourself. Feel free to reimburse yourself when you have the money for any cost you incurs during the process of claiming and distributing the money. You have to go to the Finance company to receive the fund.

I want you to get back to me without delay for details on how to claim the fund from the finance company. I will ask my lawyer Mr. Thomas Peters to call you a soon as i hear from you.

May God bless you abundantly?

Regards,
Mrs. Mary Williams

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