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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: "Mrs Jane Pius" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <janepiuss@gala.net>
Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2010 01:37:56 -0700
Subject: Dear Beloved

Dear Beloved,

My Name is Mrs. Jane Pius I am a dying woman who has decided to donate
what I have to charity through you.You may be wondering why I chose you.
But someone has to be chosen. I am 73years old and was diagnosed for
cancer about 2 years ago,immediately after the death of my husband who
hadleft me everything he worked for.I have been touched by the lord to
donate from what I have inherited from my late husband to charity through
you for the good work of humanity,rather than allow my relatives to use my
husband's hard earned funds inappropriately. I have asked the lord to
forgive me all my sins and I believe he has,because He is merciful.
I will be going in for an operation,and I pray that I survive the
operation. I have decided to WILL/Donate the sum of $5,900,000.00 Million
to charity through you for the good work of the lord, and to help the
motherless,less privileged and also for the assistance of the widows. At
the moment I cannot take any telephone calls, due to the fact that my
relatives are around me and I have been restricted by my doctor from
taking telephone calls because I deserve all the rest I can get. I wish
you all the best and may the good Lord bless you abundantly, and please
use the funds well and always extend the good work to others.If you are
interested in carrying out this task,i will inform my Family Lawyer so
that he can arrange the release of the funds to you. I know i have never
met you but my mind tells me to do this,and I hope you act sincerely.I
will pay you 30% of this money if you will assist me because I am now too
weak and frigile to do things myself because of my cancer.
NB: I will appreciate your utmost confidentiality in this matter until the
task is accomplished,as I don't want anything that will Jeopardize my last
wish. please i will appreciate you to kindly get back to me through this
email address ( janepius1@gala.net ) for further and effective
proceedings.
Remain Blessed in The Lord
Mrs. Jane Pius

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