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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: "john barry" <johnbarry_010@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: johnbarry1234@yahoo.it
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 09:48:16 +0000
Subject: BUSINESS PROPOSAL.

Desk Of: Dr. Johnson Barry
Sir/Madam,

I take liberty anchored on strong desire to solicit for your assistance on
this mutual and beneficial transaction with you, which I hope you give
urgent attention.

To be precise, I am Dr. JOHNSON BARRY; manager of Archives Department of a
Security Company here in Europe. In my department, i discovered an abandoned
consignment containing US$32,524,000.00 (Thirty Two Million, Five Hundred
and Twenty Four Thousand United States Dollars) belonging to one of our
customers Mr.Patrick Cole who died along with his entire family in the
Tsunami Disaster on their trip to Sri Lanka during the disaster.Over the
months, the Company have been expecting the customer’s next of Kin to come
over and claim this Consignment, because we can not release it unless
somebody applied for its release as next of Kin or relation to the deceased
Mr.Patrick Cole as indicated in our rules and regulations, but
unfortunately to no avail, and nobody has come forward to claim.
Our Code of Conducts stipulates that any deposit abandoned dormant or
unserviceable for a period of time is subjected to be terminated and all
valuables contained therein be forfeited to the Company. This is almost
deposit.

For the above reasons, I hereby sincerely seek for your/company’s consent to
present you as the next of kin to the deceased before the company. It is a
confidential deal between you and I. My Company will not be aware of this.
I will direct and furnish you with necessary documents and information that
will enable you contacts the The bank for the claiming of the afore
mention sum. I have enough documents to ensure the success of this deal
Thereforesuccess is 100% guarantee.

All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us seeing this deal
through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate
arrangement that will protect you and I from any breach of the law.

I quite believe that you will protect our interest by keeping this business
Top Secret and Confidential, as your interest will be equally protected in
order to achieve and maintain maximum success. Trust to hear from you
soonest.

Warm regards
Dr. Johnson Barry


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