419 scam: "Celia.Cathy" <celiacathy22@rediffmail.com> I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE

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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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "hundred thousand united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Celia.Cathy" <celiacathy22@rediffmail.com>
Reply-To: celia.cathy@ymail.com
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2012 16:28:33 +0800 (CST)
Subject: I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE

Hello, Greetings

Hope you are fine today, My name is Celia Cathy ,the only child of my parent, my father is from Hong Kong in the china mainland he was doing construction work in the city of Abidjan until his death, I have no father now because I lost my both parent in the air plane crash, due to the death I came to Abidjan to claim my inheritance, I have an inheritance fund of six million four hundred thousand United States dollars (US6, 400,000.00), I discovered my father deposited the fund in a Bank in USA.

I am now seeking for your assistance to help me receive the money in your account, if you are ready to stand as my guardian for the bank to transfer the fund to you on my behalf am willing to give you 30% from the inheritance sum for standing as my guardian and also know that you are going to manage and invest the remaining fund for me.

Kindly get back to me immediately with your direct phone number for more details and If for any reason you will not be able to assist me on this please write me back so that I can look for another person..

Thanks in advance
Yours Sincerely
Celia Cathy

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam