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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: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 21:48:12 +0700 (ICT)
Subject: Hello Dearest


Hello Dearest,
I am more than happy to read your mail today.
How are you today hope fine?
Mine is a little bit cool today over here in Dakar Senegal.My dear In this refugee we are only allowed to go out two times in a week.Its just like one staying in the prison and i hope by Gods grace i will come out from here soon.
I don't have any relatives now whom i can go to, all my relatives ran away in the middle of the war the only person i have now is (REV TIMOTHY SAMUEL) who is the pastor of the (Living Christian Church) here in the refugee he has been very nice to me since i came here but i am not living with him rather i am leaving in the women's hostel because the refugee have two hostels one for men the other for women.
The Pastors Tel number is (+221-777-312-988) if you call tell him that you want to speak with me he will send for me in the hostel. As a refugee here i don't have any right or privilege to any thing be it money or whatever because it is against the law of this country.
I want to go back to my studies because i only attended my first year before the tragic incident lead to my being in this situation now took place.
Please listen to this,i have my late father's deposit certifcate and death certificate here with me which i will send to you latter,because when he was alive he deposited some amount of money in a leading bank in Europe which he used my name as the next of kin,the amount in question is $9.7M(Nine Million seven Hundred Thousand Dollars).
So i will like you to help me transfer this money to your account 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.
I kept this secret to people in the refugee here the only person that knows about it is the Reverend because he is like a father to me.So in the light of above 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 giving you all this information due to the trust i deposed on you.I like honest and understanding people,truthful and a man of vision,truth and hardworking.fluently Meanwhile i will like you to call me like i said i have alot to tell you. Dearest what i want you to know is that age or distance doesn't matter anything but love matters alot of things.
Have a nice day and think about me.
Awaiting to hear from you soonest.
Yours in love,
Maureen.

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จองได้เลยที่ @ymail.com และ @rocketmail.com

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