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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: Kathleen De Fays <kathleendefays903@gmail.com>
Reply-To: kathleendefays337@outlook.com
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2023 00:00:14 -0700
Subject: Hello


*Dear God's SelectI am writing this mail to you with heavy tears In my
eyes and great sorrow in my heart,My
Name is Mrs. Kathleen De Fays, from Belgium. I know that this message will
be a surprise to you. Firstly, I married my late husband for thirty years
without a child, my husband died in a fatal motor accident. Since his
death I decided not to marry again because of my age and unfortunately we
don't have a child, my doctor confided in me that I have less chances to
live.My late husband was A gold merchant who owned a small gold Mine in
Dubai; During his lifetime he deposited the sum of € 8.5 Million Euros)
Eight million, Five hundred thousand Euros in a bank in Ouagadougou the
capital city of Burkina Faso in West Africa. The deposited money was from
the sale of the shares, death benefits payment and entitlements of my
deceased husband by his company. Because my late husband was one of the
first people to discover a large quantity of gold in Burkina Faso when
buying from a French company there .I am sending this message to you
praying that it will reach you in good health, since I am not in good
health in which I sleep every night without knowing if I may be alive to
see the next day. I have been suffering from cancer for a long time and
presently I am partially suffering from a stroke illness which has become
almost impossible for me to move around. I decided to contact you to claim
the fund since I don't have any relation, I grew up from the orphanage
home,I have decided to donate what remains to you for the support of
helping Motherless babies/Less privileged/Widows' because I am dying and
diagnosed with cancer about 2 years ago. I have been touched by God
Almighty to donate from what I have inherited from my late husband to you
for the good work of God Almighty. I have asked Almighty God to forgive me
and believe he has, because He is a Merciful God, I will be going in for
an operation soon.This is the reason I need your services to stand as my
next of kin or an executor to claim the funds for charity purposes. If
this money remains unclaimed after my death, the bank executives or the
government will take the money as unclaimed fund and maybe use it for what
I don’t know, as everyone knows in that country is terrorist attack and
military coup, so is a risk keeping the fund there when I don’t have any
hope to live.So I will instruct the bank to transfer this fund to you as a
foreigner but you have to promise me that you will take 40% of the total
money for your personal use While 60% of the money will go to charity,
Orphanage and less Privileges" and helping the Needy. I grew up as an
Orphan and I don't have anybody as my family member, just to ensure that
the house of God is maintained. Am doing this so that God will forgive my
sins and accept my soul because this sickness has suffered me so much.I
need your urgent answer to know if you will be able to execute this
project, and I will give you more information on how the funds will be
transferred to your bank account.Your urgently responses is
neededThanksMrs. Kathleen De Fays.*

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