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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: Joyce Praise <jyc28891@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Joyce Praise <jycpraise@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 21 May 2020 20:22:17 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: PRIVATE MESSAGE FROM MY HOSPITAL BED


Dearest  in the Lord,
Greetings in the name of God, Please let this not sound strange to you. My only surviving lawyer who would have done this for me died recently .
I prayed and got your email address from a guestbook. My is Joyce Praise from AUSTRALIA, I am 55 years old, I am suffering from a long time cancer of the lungs which also affected my brain, from all indication my conditions is really deteriorating and it is quite obvious that, according to my doctors they have advised me that I may not live for the next One Year and this is because the cancer stage has gotten to a very bad stage. I was brought up from a motherless babies home and was married to my late husband for seven years without a child, I and my husband moved down to United States his home country six years ago during the time he got a Government Contract worth over $100,000,000 and we decided to settle in the country because of my husband's interest for America.
Not long ago my husband died in a fatal motor accident, before his death we were true believers. Since his death I decided not to re-marry, I sold all my inherited belongings and deposited all the sum of Ten Million US Dollars with a Bank.
Presently, this money is still with them and the management just wrote me as the true owner to come forward to receive the money and the valuables for keeping it so long or rather issue a letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my behalf since I can not come over because of my illness or they get it confiscated. Presently, I'm with my laptop in a hospital here in London where I have been undergoing treatment for cancer of the lung.
It is my wish to see that this money is used for investment purpose in any profitable business venture and also I would want 10% of the total Fund released to Charity Organization and for the less privileged across the United States and beyond as I have lived in the United States with my husband for many years .
As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of my Bank where the fund is deposited for you to contact them immediately for the release of the funds in the fixed deposit account.
Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I stated herein. Hoping to hear from you soon. Please do respond to my private e-mail only at jycpraise@gmail.com
Waiting for your reply
Thanks,Mrs. Joyce Praise

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