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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: "ALICIA SMITH" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <aliciasmith595@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2019 07:16:00 -0800
Subject: YOUR RESPONSE IS NEEDED FROM ALICIA SMITH

 
I am Mrs. Alicia Smith from Netherlands
I was married to Dr.Benjamin Smith who worked with Chevron Texaco in Libya for twenty years before he died in the year 2011, May be you must have heard about him in the oil firm. We were married for thirty-seven years without a child. He died during the riot that lead to the Nato war in Libya.
He was held hostage and slain to death by protesting youths of the region. Before his death we were both born again Christians. Since his death I decided not to re-marry. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of (Seventeen Million Euros ) with a diplomat Finance security company ( Mapfre Seguros) deposited in the bank Presently, this funds is still with the bank and the management just wrote me as the beneficiary to come forward to receive my funds or rather issue a letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my behalf if I cannot come over.
Presently, I m with my laptop in a hospital where I have been undergoing treatment for cancer of the lungs. I have since lost my ability to talk and my doctors have told me that I have only a few months to live.
It is my last wish to see that this money is invested and the proceed at the end of every year distributed among charity organization.
I want a person that is God fearing that will use this money to fund churches, orphanages and widows propagating the word of God and to ensure that the house of God is maintained. The Bible made us to understand that blessed is the hand that giveth. I took this decision because I know that there are a lot of poor people suffering from different kind of disease and nobody to come to their aid.
With God all things are possible. As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the security company. I will also issue you a letter of authority that will prove you as the new beneficiary of this fund. You are to help me invest these funds into real estate and stocks. You will be entitled to 30% of every profit you
make in a year.
Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I stated herein.
Note. You can contact the security company's Correspondence office in Europe for verification on the consignment as the funds was deposited in a bank as a consignment, and the consignment's code is? 1156? Name of depositor Benjamin Smith, present beneficiary Alicia Smith. And please do not let the company know the content of the box for the safety of my funds because my late husband deposited it as a family treasure. 
Hoping to hearing from you soon.
Waiting for your reply
Yours in Christ,
ALICIA SMITH OF NETHERLAND
aliciasmith595@yahoo.com

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