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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: Mrs Louisa Besson <mrsdhawannishapradeep@gmail.com>
Reply-To: rraya9989@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2021 02:19:33 -0800 (PST)
Subject: I am Mrs Louisa Besson from France

 
My Sincere Greetings ,
 
How are you doing today? I am Mrs Louisa Besson from France; I have decided to donate what I have to you, Churches, Motherless babies, Less privileged, Widow's because I am diagnosed and dying with cancer. I have been touched by God Almighty to donate from what I have inherited from my late husband to you for the 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 surgery soon and your prayers will be appreciated.
 
I decided to donate the sum of "eight million, five hundred thousand united state dollar" to you for the good work of God Almighty, and also to help the motherless and less privileged and also for assistance of the widows and Less privileged during this Covid 19 Pandemic. As soon as I read from you, I shall give you info on what I need from you, then you will contact the bank and tell them I have willed my inheritance to you by quoting my personal file routing and account information to you for good, effective and prudent work. I know I don't know you but I have been directed to do this by God Almighty.
 
Please I will need you to respect my decision and keep every process of this confidential until every process is finalized. If you are interested in carrying out this task, i will need you to get back to me and answer the below questions,
 
1). That you are in a position to be trusted with such a large amount of funds, and that you have a heart for charity and thus would not have any problems locating the right charity and human aid groups to disburse the fund to. It would be nice to know what charities you have in mind to donate the money to?
 
2). That you are willing to contact the bank holding the deposit to discuss the terms of releasing the funds to you?
 
3). That you promise to respect my decision and keep every process of this transfer confidential top secret until every process is finalized?
 
4). That you fully understand this transaction and you are ready to proceed under these terms?
 
I wish you all the best and May the good Lord bless you abundantly.
 
Yours Faithfully,
Mrs.Louisa Besson.
 

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