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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: Gladys Konan <gladyskonan11@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Gladys Konan <gladys_konan@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2017 04:41:52 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Hi Dear


Dear, 
I hope my letter meets you in good health. Please do not be offended to receive this email from me, I am contacting you due to my present situations so that you will come to my aid. I am Miss Gladys Konan from Ivory Coast, my father Mr. Raymond Konan died during the last political crisis in my country. Right now i'm an orphan and had no brother, or sister or mother. I need your help to transfer the sum of US$3.7m (Three million seven hundred thousand US Dollars) which i inherited from my late father. My late father acquired the money genuinely through his Gold business in the country before his death, and he deposited it in a fixed deposit account in the bank with my name as next of kin. I went to the bank concerning the account and they required me to provide my guardian or caretaker who will receive the money on my behalf due to my age, because my late father signed agreement bond with the bank in which he instructed the bank that in case of his death
the bank should not release the money to me until i reach 25 years old. But i have right to appoint reliable person of my choice as guardian or caretaker to receive the money from the bank on my behalf.

Presently, my wicked uncle and his wife are threatening my life over my late father's properties, so i decided to run away from the family house with all documents of the deposit to hide myself somewhere in my country where they cannot locate me. I want to travel out of the country as soon as possible to further my education and invest the money in good business in your country. Please, I want to choose you as guardian or investment partner and present you to the bank for the transfer of the money into your account, immediately after the transfer I will come over to your country to live and continue my education while you will help me to invest the money in good business. I am willing to reward you with 20% of the total money after successful transfer into your account for your help. I promise to keep my discussion with you confidential while you help me to handle the transaction with the bank. I wait for your reply urgent.
 
Thanks,
Gladys Konan.

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