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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: "Johnson Taylor" <johnson_taylor1@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2011 08:19:37 +0400 (GST)
Subject: MY FAITHFUL FRIEND




Dear friend,
My names are Johnson Taylor. I’m a 65 years old man. I am British living
in Dubai (united Arab emirate). I’m a merchant and owned two businesses in
Dubai. I’m married with two children. my wife and two children died in a
car accident six years ago. Before this happened my business and concern
for making money was all I lived for. I never really cared about other
values in life.

But since the loss of my family, i have found a new desire to assist
helpless families. I have been helping orphans in orphanage/ motherless
homes. i have donated some money to orphans in Sudan, south Africa,
Cameroon, brazil, Spain, Austria, Germany and some Asian countries.

Before I became ill, I kept some money, Sixty million dollars ($60
million) to be precise in a long term deposit account in a bank in the
united kingdom. Presently, I’m in a hospital. my doctors told me i have
Esophageal cancer that I have a few months to live. it is my last wish to
see this money distributed to charity organizations.

Because so much of my wealth has been plundered by relatives and friends
since my illness, I cannot live with the agony of entrusting this huge
responsibility to any of them.please, I beg you in the name of God to help
me collect the deposit from the bank in the united kingdom and distribute
it amongst charity organizations.

Use your judgment to distribute the money and keep 10% of it to yourself.
Feel free to reimburse yourself when you have the money for any cost you
incur during the process of collecting and distributing the money to
charity organizations.

I am writing this from my laptop computer in my hospital bed where I wait
for my time to come. I pray that God uses you to support and assist me
with good heart.

May the good Lord bless you and your family,
I await your urgent response.
Sincerely,
Johnson Taylor.

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