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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: Catherine Afred <catherineafred2017@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Catherine Afred <catherineafred@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2017 05:25:48 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Dear Child of God

Dear Child of God
 
Greetings’ I am. Mrs. Catherine Afred, a widow to late Mr. Afred.
I am 65 years old, suffering from pancreatic cancer. My condition is really bad
and it is quite obvious that I won't live more than three months according to
my doctors.
 
I am willing to donate the sum of Six million, five hundred
thousand Euros (6.5M €) out through you in other to help the poor widows and
the less privileged ones in the rural areas and to carry out other charitable
works.
I will details you more about this project once I hear from you.
 
I wait for your urgent reply to proceed.
Best regards,
Mrs. Catherine Afred

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