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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: "Mary James" <myjames347@usa.com>
Reply-To: infoprojectbiz@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 04 Aug 2018 20:02:15 +1000
Subject: I Will Help.


My name is Mary James. am 75 yrs old of age and I stay in New York City, N=
ew York USA. I am a good merchant, I have several industrial companies and =
good share in various banks in the world. I spend all my life on investme=
nt and corporate business. Along the way I lost my husband and two beautifu=
l kids in a fatal accident that occurred in November 2003. Ever since I los=
t my family, its been difficult to sleep or get enough rest. Later in the y=
ear 2004 February I was sent a diagnosis letter after a medical check up, c=
onfirming from my personal doctor that I have lung cancer, which can easily=
end my life at anytime. I found it uneasy to survive myself, because a l=
ot of investment cannot be run and manage by me again. I quickly call up a =
pastor/prophet to give me positive thinking on this solution as my adviser.=
He minister to me to share my properties ,wealth, to motherless baby/orpha=
nage homes/people that need money for survivor both student that need money=
for schooling, business woman and man for their investment and for future =
rising.So therefore I am writing this letter to people who are really in ne=
ed of help from me both student in college to contact me urgently, so that =
I can make an available preparation on that. I also have a good loan mast=
er agent that I have discuss with to release free loan offer to you which y=
ou don't need to pay the loan back,cos it's a free loan master offer. Espec=
ially women of the day, who are divorced by their husband, who cannot survi=
ve the mist of feeding their self, please contact me and stop weeping. Pr=
obably let me know what you really need the money for and if you can still =
help me to distribute money to nearest orphanage homes near your town. May =
the lord bless you as you reach me, please to remind you, don't belongs to =
scammers or any act of fraudulent on Internet. Best Regards, Mrs. Mary =
James

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