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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: Ryan O <7788553611@fido.ca>
Reply-To: malikaabely@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2016 21:03:17 -0500
Subject: CRY FOR HELP

Hello Dearest ,

How are you doing today? I hope all is well with you, more especially
in the area of good health and sound mind, because that's the most 
important thing in life. I live in Ivory Coast, West Africa. Actually,
I inherited the sum of 10.5 million US from my late father, who used 
to be a businessman reputable before his death. He use to do business
of cocoa and cotton  out of Ivory Coast to Europe, Asia and the
Middle  East exports. My father died in a car accident few years ago
when I was in my early age. I do not like to talk about the accident,
and  that makes me mourn anytime I remembered and talk about it.  My
father left the money in the bank and put a clause in the contract
deposit  "should be 30 years of age or guardian and provide a foreign
custodian before the bank can release the money to me as the following
list of  family in case if not more. that is why I contacted you to
help me to claim and transfer the money to your country for
investment, and I  will also continue my education there.

As things stand at the moment, I have no body i can trust here, even
from my fathers side, because my uncles are also among those who 
struggle and want me dead because of the wealth of my late father.
This country is no longer safer for me because of the political 
instability here, so i have decided to move to a better place to
continue a new life.  I came to you because I want to invest the
funds  in your country and also complete my studies there. I made my
choice to move to your country and start a new life there, I have
chosen you  to be my companion and guardian because I am an orphan and
I have no  one else to trust here. Once i receive your response, I
will then give  you more information and documents on this
transaction, so you can  negotiate the transfer of this funds to the
bank as my guardian and 
foreign custodian.

Thank you,

Malika

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