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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: Michael Frank <mikkyfrank@freesurf.fr>
Reply-To: mikefrank@walla.com
Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2005 15:54:46 +0100
Subject: Awaits your willingness


Dear Sir,
I am Michael Frank, I represent the members of
contract award committee of my country,Republic of benin cotonou.
We managed to deposit the sum of $25 million in the
vault of Citi Bank of America (local branch).These
funds has been successfully moved to a coded vault of
our correspondent bank abroad.
These funds was acquired as gratification from various
contractors we have assisted in getting contracts.
This fund was deposited without any account as a
result of civil service code, which does not allow us
to operate foreign account. I'm asking for your
assistance as a foreign partner to move this fund from
the vault of our correspondent bank abroad to your account,
with you as the beneficiary.
I will also need your assistance in the investment of
most of our share of the funds in your country,
in profitable areas of interest to us, especially
in area of hospitality industry.
COMMISSION!
You will be entitled to 15% of the total funds for
your assistance. If you are interested contact me
immediately through e-mail(mikefrank@walla.com ) for more details and how to proceed
Regards and God bless.
Michael Frank

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