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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: " Michael" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <gracemichael.741@outlook.com>
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2018 23:01:40 +0100
Subject: Hello Friend



Hello Friend,

Urgent / Assistance

Please reply me as quickly as you get this Mail.(gracemichael.741@outlook.com)

I REQUEST TO BE MY GUARDIAN AND THEN HELP ME THUS:Good day and how are you today? I hope you are fine? After going through your profile, permit me to inform you of my desire of asking you to be a guardian or foster parent to me and then help me out in what i am about to tell you.My name is Miss.Grace S Michael,(23 yrs )I am the only daughter of Late Mr.Stein Michael, my father was a very wealthy cocoa merchant in Abidjan, the economic capital of Cote D'Ivoire. He was poisoned to death by his business associates on one of their outings on a business trip. My mother died when i was baby 8months old. Before the death of my father in a private hospital in Abidjan,

he secretly called me by his bed side and told me that he has the sum of $6,430,000 Million {Six Million four hundred and thirty thousand dollars}deposited in a fix deposit with one of the big banks here in Benin Republic. He told me that he used my name (Miss.Grace S Michael) as the next of Kin in depositing the money.He then strongly advised me not to seek for assistance of the investment of this money from his lawyer nor any of his friend.but to seek for a foreign partner from any country of my choice with enabling conditionals for the release of the fund which areas follows:

1) That I must be 25 years or above.(2) That upon my request for the release of the fund, there must be evidence of investment intentions especially outside our country, I contact you therefore to confirm if you can absorb me in partnership in your company or possibly advise me on any investment opportunity in your country.

As soon as I receive your concrete assurance to assist me with my proposal and also your full contact address/phone number, I will then give the bank your contact information and then tell them to transfer the money into your account as i want to come over to stay with you permanently to further my education as 2nd year medical student. The bank will then contact you and communicate with you on the transfer. You shall then be giving me information on when the transfer will be over.

No matter what your decision may turn out to be, please i beg you to keep this highly secret for my safety, as i believe that those that killed my father are still after me. Please reply me as quickly as you get this Mail.(gracemichael.741@outlook.com)

Thanks for your understanding .
Yours Faithfully,
Miss.Grace S Michael

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