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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: "Yusuf Aroma" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <yusuf.aroma@w.cn>
Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2011 05:53:48 -0000
Subject: I NEED YOUR HELP

Dear Friend,

I am very sorry for troubling you with my problem but I have no option than to use this medium to see if God can touch you to assist me on my present predicament. My name is Yusuf Aroma, the elder son of Mr. Aroma Moyo of Zimbabwe. This might be a surprise to you about where I got your contact address. During the current war against the farmers in Zimbabwe from the supports of our President Robert Mugabe to claim all the white-owned farms to his party members and his followers, he ordered all white farmers to surrender all their farms to his party members and his followers. My father is one of the prominent farmers in our country and because he did not support Mugabe's ideas, Mugabe's supporters invaded my father's farm and burnt everything in the farm, killing my father and made away with a lot of items in my father's farm. Before his death, my father had deposited with one of the Finance Security Company in Accra, Ghana the sum of US$9.730 Million (Nine Million Seven Hundre
d and Thirty Thousand United Stat

We have agreed to offer your 20% of the total sum for your assistance, 5% will be mapped out for any expenses that may be incurred in the course of this transaction and 75% will be for me and my family to invest in your country. All I want you to do is to furnish me with your entire personal details, phone and fax numbers for easy communication.

Thanks in anticipation of your quick response. God bless.


Regards,

Yusuf Aroma

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