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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: "Margaret Ben" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <maba0135@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 4 Jul 2019 13:16:16 -0700
Subject: Dear Beloved One !!

My Beloved One,

I am Mrs. Anna Margaret Ben. I and my late husband was into Estate management and also a government building contracts before his sudden death. We were married for eleven years without a child due my fibriod problem. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of $3.8Million (USD) dollars in Finance house. Recently, my Doctor told me that I would not last for the next Four months due to cancer problem. From all indications, my condition is really deteriorating and is quite obvious that I may not live long because the cancer stage has gotten to a very dangerous stage. Having known my condition I decided to donate this fund to good person that will utilize this money for Charity work, helping the Widows, Motherless Babies and Less Privileges.

I will offer you 20% of this total fund for your acceptance to do this Humanitarian Work while 80% goes to charities Work. l took this decision because I don't have any child that will inherit this money . This is why I am taking this decision to donate this fund for charity.

I look forward to your prompt reply for more details.

Yours sincerely,
Sister Anna

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