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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: Jane Lawson <janelawson025@gmail.com>
Reply-To: ljane8088@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2021 10:54:38 +0000
Subject: Dear Sir/Madam

Hello Dear Friend,

My Name is Miss Jane Lawson The only daughter of late Mr Douglas
Kwami Lawson My father was a highly reputable business man (An Oil
Magnate )). It is sad to say that he passed away mysteriously after
returning from one of his business trip abroad in June 2017.Though his
sudden death was linked or rather suspected to have been masterminded
by an uncle of his who traveled with him at that time. But God knows
the truth! My mother died when I was just 6 years old, and since then
my father took me so special.

Before his death on 4th of June, 2017 he called me in the hospital bed
side and told me that he has the sum of US$7.500.000.( SEVEN MILLION,
FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) left in a fix deposit
account in one of the prime bank in Togo West Africa with my name
written in the deposit certificate as his next of kin, he directed me
to go into his bed-room where i will see the deposit certificate and
the (WILL) he made on my behalf in his brief-case. On the process of
advising me on what to do and about the cause of his death he gave up
and died. I am a university undergraduate and really don't know what
to do, I want an account overseas where my inheritance fund can be
transfer and after the transaction I will come over and by your help I
could settle down and plan my future.

This is because I have suffered a lot of setbacks as a result of the
death of my father and coupled with the circumstances surrounding the
status of the deposit. The death of my father actually brought sorrow
to my life. I am in a sincere desire of your humble assistance to
stand on my behalf and claim out this money from the bank and have it
transfer to your safe bank account in abroad, I wish to invest this
money under your care so please Your suggestions and ideas will be
highly regarded.

Please, Consider this and get back to me as soon as possible,
Regards,
Miss Jane Lawson

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