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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: Mercia Akume <merciaauk44@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Mercia Akume <mercia77.mercia@aol.com>
Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2017 02:47:25 +0900 (JST)
Subject: From: Mercia Akume


From: Mercia Akume
Abidjan,Ivory Coast
West Africa
My Dear,

Permit me to inform you of my desire of going into business relationship with you.

I
got your contact and I prayed over it and selected your name among
other names due to its esteeming nature and the
recommendations given to me as a reputable and trust worthy person that
I can confide on and by the this recommendation I must not hesitate to
confide in you for this legal, truethful and Godly relationship .

I
am Mercia Akume from Sierra Leone
the only daughter of late Mr and Mrs Akume. My father was a very
wealthy cocoa merchant , my father was poisoned to death by his business
associates on one of their outings on a business trip .

My
mother
died when I was a baby and since then my father took me so special.
Before the death of my father in a private hospital
here he secretly called me on his bed side and told me that he has the
sum of Five million five hundred thousand United State Dollars.
US($5.500,000), left in fixed / suspense account in one of the
international bank in Africa,he used my name as his only daughter for
the next of Kin in depositing of the fund.

My late father
Instructed me to seek for a foreign partner in a country of my choice
where I will transfer this money and use it for investment purpose such
as real estate management or hotel management .

Sir, I am honourably seeking for your assistance in the following ways:

(1) To provide a bank account in which this money would be transferred to .
(2) To serve as my guardian and of this fund since I am not capable to handle it.
(3) To make arrangement for me to come over to your country to further my education.

Note: I am willing to offer you 15% of the total sum as compensation for your effort/ input after the
successful transfer of this fund to your nominated bank account. please make sure that you write me very fast, it is urgent.

Anticipating to hear from you soon.

Thanks and God bless.

Best regards,
Mercia Akume

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