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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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Fraud email example:

From: "Denis Moore" <dr_ozoemenam@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: denismoore@compaqnet.fr
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 10:08:45 +0000
Subject: From:The Desk Of Dr Denis Ozoemena Moore

From:The Desk Of Dr Denis Ozoemena Moore,
Manager Credit And Foreign Bills
Zenith International Bank Lagos-Nigeria.

My name is Dr Denis Ozoemena Moore, the manager credit and foreign bills of
Zenith International Bank Nigeria Lmited. I am writing in respect of foreign
customer of my bank with account number 14-255-2004/utb/t who died in a
plane crash (Ethiopian Airline 961) with other passengers abroad.

Since the death of this customer, I personally have watched with keen
interest to see the next of kin but all has proved abortive as no one has
come to claim his funds of US$15.5m (Fifteen Million, Five Hundred Thousand
United States Dollars) which has been with my bank for a very long time. On
this note I decided to seek for whose name shall be used as the next of kin
as no one has come up to be the next of kin.In view of this. I got your
contact through my country's foreign trade mission after I was convinced by
providence that your name could be used as the next of kin.

The request of the foreigner as a next of kin in this business is occasioned
by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and a Nigerian cannot stand as
the next of kin to a foreigner.
I agreed that 30% of this money will be for you as a foreign partner in
respect of providing a new bank account or we can use your old account
information, while the rest will be for me, thereafter, I will visit your
country for disbursement as I am almost due for retirement.

Therefore, to facilitate the immediate transfer of this fund to your account
as arranged, you must apply first to the bank as a relation to the deceased
indicating your private telephone number, and fax number for easy
communication and location where the money will be remitted.

Upon the receipt of your reply, I will send you by fax or e-mail the
application and the next stepto take. I will not fail to bring to your
notice that this business is hitch-free and that you should not entertain
any fear as the whole required arrangement has been made for the transfer.

You should contact me immediately as soon as you receive this letter.

Trusting to hear from you.
Your respectfully,

Dr Denis Ozoemena Moore


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