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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: "Desmond" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <vivdesmond@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2017 10:05:50 +0100
Subject: YOUR HELP IS NEEDEDDED

Dear Sir/Madam,
 
I am Miss Vivian Desmond 26years old. My father was a very wealthy oil
merchant in Africa. MY father was poisoned to death by his business
associates on one of their outings on a business trip to London UK. He
left the sum of Twenty Three Million Sixty-Five Thousand United State
Dollars in a fixed/suspense account for me.
 
I am contacting you now because I need urgent assistance to help me get the
money out. Meanwhile my father's brothers [ MY UNCLES ] are after me to kill me
so they can claim all that my father left for me. I got your email on the net while
searching for who will be of help and my mind pleads me to contact you .
 
Note that you are to contact me directly at my private email address
stated below ;vivdesmond@gmail.com
 
I will give you my phone number once I recieve your reply.
 
 
Thanks and God bless.
Miss Vivian Desmond .

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