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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: "Mrs. Tracy Ann Mills" <test@paiges.co.za>
Reply-To: rr@mercuriocomunicacao.com
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2020 01:23:24 +0200
Subject: Treat As Urgent



--
My Dearest Friend,


My Name is Tracy A. Mills an American who lives in England. I know that
this message will be a surprise to you. Firstly, I am married to Mr.
Jacob Mills, A gold merchant who owns a small gold Mine in United
Kingdom; He died of Cardiovascular Disease in mid-March 2016. During his
life time he deposited the sum of €20Million EURO in a bank in London
the capital city of United Kingdom. The deposited money was from the
sale of the shares, death benefits payment and entitlements of my
deceased husband by his company.


I am sending this message to you praying that it will reach you in good
health, since I am not in good health condition in which I sleep every
night without knowing if I may be alive to see the next day. I am
suffering from long time cancer and presently I am partially suffering
from a stroke illness which has become almost impossible for me to move
around. I am married to my late husband for over 4 years before he died
and is unfortunate that we don't have a child, my doctor confided in me
that i have less chance to live. Having known my health condition, I
decided to contact you to claim the fund since I don't have any relation
I grew up from the orphanage home.



I have decided to donate what I have to you for the support of helping
Motherless babies/Less privileged/Widows' because I am dying and
diagnosed of cancer for about 2 years ago. I have been touched by God
Almighty to donate from what I have inherited from my late husband to
you for good work of God Almighty. I have asked Almighty God to forgive
me and believe he has, because He is a Merciful God I will be going in
for an operation surgery soon



This is the reason i need your services to stand as my next of kin or an
executor to claim the funds for charity purposes. If this money remains
unclaimed after my death, the bank executives or the government will
take the money as unclaimed fund and maybe use it for selfish and
worthless ventures, I need a very honest person who can claim this money
and use it for Charity works, for orphanages, widows and also build
schools for less privilege that will be named after my late husband and
my name; I need your urgent answer to know if you will be able to
execute this project, and I will give you more information on how the
fund will be transferred to your bank account.


Thanks,
Tracy A. Mills

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