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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: Fannie Maedow <fannie.maedow@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Fannie Maedow <fannie.maedow@outlook.fr>
Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 10:08:29 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: From Mrs Fannie Maedow


 From Mrs Fannie Maedow
Abidjan Ivory Coast,
West Africa

I sincerely apologize for not taking your permission before contacting you while also asking you to pardon my poor English, as I am half educated. It is rather unfortunate that I am writing this mail to you in deep tears while lying on a hospital bed due to chronic cancer of the breast waiting for the time to pass unto eternal glory. My ordeal is quite complicated but I will appreciate it if you give a little time to hear me out.

First, I would like to start by introducing my self to you. I am Mrs. Fannie maedow from Cote Divoire by marriage,West Africa as stated above. I was born on the 7 th of April 1952 and grew up as a tourist and trader until I met my husband who was a Cocoa Trader and an Ivorian. We got married and lived happily together but had no children. This never bothered us as we were good Christians and never blamed God for that.

Three years ago, I lost my husband as a result of man inhumanity to his fellow man. His death was the beginning of my unfortunate ordeal. I had to undergo a lot of ritual procedures based on tradition by his family members to find out if I had a hand in his death. Part of the ritual was being forced to drink water from his dead body. It is a common thing that happens to African Women.

This was not all as all properties belonging to him in my possession were taken away from me and was made an outcast. I lived alone for years as a widow with serious agony while praying to the Lord to take charge. Unknown to his family members, my late husband had a total sum of $4.9,000,000 USD (Four Million Nine Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) which was left secretly in a Bank.When he was alive,we 2 agreed and adopted a little to feel the joy of child rearing but now my husband had died and i am seriously sick here in hospital.

I thought it would be good to find someone reliable,trustworthy and God fearing who could use the money to take care of this my daughter and help the poor and needy hence my contacting you. I will appreciate if you utilize the funds properly as instructed.

Kindly get back to me as soon as possible so that I can provide you with the contact information of the bank because i do not really know when my call to eternity will be. May God bless you as you take up this opportunity to help the poor and the needy.

Regards,

Mrs.Fannie Maedow

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