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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: MARIAMANDREW <annealice38@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2013 03:01:22 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Hello


Hello !


How are u today? i hope fine . Mine is not good here . Dear please i would
like you to think of me and my situation here,not just for fun or
romantic affairs . Please i believe you are in a good position to help
me out . I want you to be by my side and help me out of this condition , please. My name is Miss Mariam Andrew I am 26years old , single and
never married . l am from Liberian in West Africa and presently l am
residing in the church Orphanage home of St LouisCatholic Parish here as a result of the civil war that was fought in my country recenly . My
late father Dr. John andrew was A politician and also he works contract for government , he supports the present government
before the rebels attacked my family one early morning ,killing my
father and my mother Stella with my two younger brothers, it is only me
who is alive now because i was in school where i was doing my first year in social science in the University and l managed to run to the
nearbyorphanage home st louis here were am staying now, we are only
allowed to go out of here only on few days of the weeks. It is just like one staying in the prison . I don't have any relative now whom i can go to, all my relatives ran away in the middle of the war and the only
person i have now is Rev.augustine johnson who is a reverend father in
St Louis Parish here. He has been very nice to me since i came here but i am not living with him , i am leaving in the woman's hostel because we
have two hostels, one for men the other for women . He is also the
person who i use his computer to write to you because i help him type some documents for church services,
I want to go back to my studies because i was only in my first year in
school before this happened .. Please listen to this , my late father
when he was alive deposited ($3.5m) three million five hundred thousand
united state's dollar in a bank which he used my name as the next of kin and i have his statement of account and death certificate here with me . Please i will like you to help me transfer this money to your account
in your country and from it you can send some money for me to get my
traveling documents and air ticket to come over to meet with you in your country because i have nothing at hand with me here to make any
movement or do any thing . I'm afraid of the enmity my father created
back in my country when he was alive , that was also why i ran out to
this place . I kept this secret from other people here because i don't want them to know who i
am or what i have . The only person that knows about it is the Reverend
because he is like a father to me .
 Please because of this ,i will
like you to keep it to yourself and don't tell it to anyone for i am
afraid of loosing my life and the money if people gets to know about it
.Remember i am telling you all this due to the trust i have in you ,
though we have not met in person .I like honest , understanding and God
fearing people . My hobbies are music , reading ,writing and sports .
I will attache my picture for you in my next mail and i will also like
to see yours .I will like to know more about you your name and address
in full. My favorite language is English becouse i chooled in ghana ,
though not very perfect . Have a nice day and think about me and my
situation here please. Awaiting to hear from you soonest .
Best wishes Miss Mariam

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