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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: Marina Salem Akidah <marinaakidahsa@voila.fr>
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 02:36:32 +0200
Subject: Good Afternoon


How are you today,
May the blessings of the lord be with you and your househood.I give thanks to
God almighty for this great opportunity for me to reach with you i want you to
understand and consider my main purpose of writing you this letter, i feel quite
safe dealing with you in this important issue having gone through your
remarkable profile. My name is Marina Salem Akidah from Mali, adopted daughter
of Late Mr.Michel Salem Akidah, we resides in cote d'ivoire. Please I need your
assistance to secure my inheritance fund which i inherited from my late adopted
father ,the sum of $4.500,000.00 (Four Million five hundred thousand United
States Dollars).which he willed to me before his death as his adopted daughter.
What I need from you is your assistance to transfer this fund that my late
adopted father Mr.Michel Salem Akidah deposited with a Bank here in abidjan cote
d'ivoire west africa where we were residing before his death and to invest it
for me in your country while I further my education when I join you over there
in your country because the wife of my Late. father is not happy about the money
I inherited from the family due to religion differences, therefore I need to
transfer the fund out of this country as fast as possible. I will send you the
contact of the Bank when I hear from you and also i will explain more better to
you when i receive your respond to my mail confirming your willingness to assit
me in transfering the fund, i will offer you 15% of the total money for
providing account and assistance and 35% of any profit made out of the money
when invested in your country. We will discuss more when I hear from you.
Regards,
Yours Faithfully
Marina Salem Akidah.

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