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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: "Mrs. Zahra Al-Kamil" <zahrafamily3@gmail.com>
Reply-To: <mszahrafamily5@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2004 19:20:26 -0700
Subject: Re : PLEASE MY DEAR

Dear Friend,
How are you doing? I would like to first of all introduce myself to you because you don't
know me. My name is Zahra Al-Kamil; I'm a widow from Bagdad in Iraq. I got your contact
after surfing the internet for a reliable partner, I have been praying and fasting to
Allah during the just concluded Ramadan for a reliable partner and decided to contact you
for your immediate assistance.
Due to the very bad situation here in Iraq, those of us in the business circle are finding
it very difficult to cope with the situation, no stable government, bomb explosion at
strategic places, sometimes people find it very difficult to go about their normal
businesses due to fear of being victim of terrorist attack. Above all, the crisis in Iraq
has made business activities totally paralyzed for quite sometime now. For instance, no
good telephone facilities, no adequate security, in fact, al most all the basic
infrastructure have been destroyed in the on-going war in Iraq and the environment in Iraq
have never been conducive business-wise.
Why I need your assistance is that I have a very large amount of money ($36.8M) in a bank
security vault outside Iraqi. which I inherited from my late husband who was a major
general in Iraqi army in charge of purchase and maintenance in the past regime of late
Sadam Hussein.
My intention is to move the money from the bank security vault and invest the money in
stock market or real estate in your country with the help of an honest person who will
work with me as my foreign associate. I want to invest most of the money abroad to avoid
losing the money, because it is not wise doing business in the atmosphere of fear here in
Iraq, that's why I am contacting you.
If you can honestly collaborate with me, I am ready to pay you a good percentage of the
total amount if you can sincerely assist me to actualize this project soon, because the
situation here in Iraq is very critical, the everyday bomb explosion seems to have no end.
If you are ready to assist my family, just email me through my private e-mail:
mszahrafamily5@yahoo.com.hk , please this is in no way a scam, my family is in dear need
of help from you and we shall remain grateful to whatever help you render to us.
Best regards
Mrs. Zahra Al-Kamil
 

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