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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: "Esther van Leeuwen" <esther.vanleeuwen@yahoo.co.uk>
Reply-To: esther_vanleeuwen@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2012 05:24:28 +0530
Subject: Request

Dear Beloved,

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus. I am Ms. Esther van Leeuwen a 75-years old
woman living in United Kingdom. According to our bible in Ecclesiastes 1:2 which says
“Vanity of vanities, said the preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. I am a dying
woman who God has touched in a glorious way to fulfill His blessing toward charity/
Mankind.

In Two (2) years ago I was diagnosed with cancer of the breast. I have asked God for
forgiveness and I believed He has because He is a merciful God. I will be going in for
an operation on Friday, which the Doctor has indirectly said is 50/50 chance of
surviving. Beloved, I have decided to contact you on this project of God…, read Romans
1:16-17

I have decided to WILL/donate the sum of $10.2Million USD (Ten Million Two Hundred
Thousand Dollars) to you for the good work of God and to serve His divine purpose and
favor to humanity. Due to my health situation, I am only privilege to send you this
letter with the help of a lady nurse here who has be so kind to me.

My family lawyer is aware of the fact that I am ready to adjust my WILL for this
purpose, I will advice you contact her about the subject matter for WILL adjustment and
she we instruct you on the proceeding and instruction to get the WILL adjust; she will
notify me for further clarification to signed the necessary column of the WILL. My
Family Lawyer information is Mrs. Helen McDowell Email: h.m@lawyer.com United
Kingdom. She will instruct you on every step/information needed to get this done.

All I ask of you is to make sure that you use this fund for the work of God to fulfill
His divine purpose and favor to humanity. It is clear that I don’t know you BUT God
known you more than I can ever do. For this purpose I bow my knees and pray for you,
May the Lord bless you abundantly as you fulfill this mystery toward charity and
Humanitarian service. Thus, you are to use 50% of the funds for this Humanitarian
Mission while 10% goes to my family Lawyer and 40% goes to you for your faithfulness
toward God and mankind.

Lastly, I want you to pray for me regarding my health situation, because I have come to
find out that to everything there is a season; and a time to every purpose under the
heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1–8) May the Grace of our Lord, the love of God, and the sweet
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you now and forever more, Amen.

Yours Faithfully

Ms. Esther van Leeuwen

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