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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: "Taylor Williams" <taylorwilliams2045@msn.com>
Reply-To: taylorwills78@o2.pl
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 12:48:47 +0000
Subject: Please Respond

Dearest Friend,

Permit me to inform you of my desire of going into business relationship
with you. I beleive you are a reputable and responsible trustworthy person I
can do business with, as a matter of trust, I must not hesitate to confide
in you for this simple and sincere business.I am the only child of my late
parents, Dr. & Mrs. Jean Taylor.

My father was a very wealthy Cocoa Merchant based in Abidjan, the Economic
Capital of Cote D' Ivoire. My father was poisoned to death by his business
associates on one of their outings to discuss a business deal. Before the
death of my father on the 24th November 2003 in a Private Hospital in
Abidjan, he secretly called me to his bedside and told me that he has the
sum of 25.5 Million United States Dollars deposited as "Photographic
Materials" with a Security Trust Company in Europe with my name as the Next
of kin. Also his last words, was that I should move out of my country
through a neighbouring country to any safe place for cover [Exile]
immediately after his burial so that his enemies will not know my where
about, then from there that I should find a possible way of moving out of
Africa and naturalize in a foreign country where I can put up solid
investment with with the money. Right now, am staying in London-United
Kingdom. According to my dad, it was because of his wealth that he was
poisoned by his business associates.

Therefore, I should seek for a foreign partner in a country of my choice
where I will transfer this money and use it for Investment purposes
specifically, he advised that I should invest in Real Estate.I am honourably
seeking your assistance in the following ways;

1. To serve as the guardian of this fund.

2. To assist me in putting this sum of money in safe keeping by accepting to
recieve it from the Security company with a letter of Authorization from me.

3. To make arrangement for me to come over to your country to further my
education and,

4. To secure residential permit for me in your country.

Moreover, I am willing to offer you a percentage that you will not refuse
from the total sum as compensation for your effort/input after the
successful completion of the transaction.
The details of the Security Company, the Certificate of Deposit and the
Deposit's Pin Code (DPC) as well as the depositor's reference number will be
released to you as soon as we established a cordial relationship and have
the full Identity of each other. You will agree with me that it will be
unimaginable doing a transaction of this magnitude without prior knowing
each other better.

To commence, I will need you to send to me your Telephone and Fax Numbers
for further communication. If you are not Interested, Please do not reply to
this mail, delete it from your system.

Thank you while expecting to hear from you soon.

Taylor Williams

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