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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: "MR.RICHARD CLIFORD" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <richard_cliford@accountant.com>
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2011 16:18:51 +0800
Subject: Banker in Malaysia

Dear


My name is Mr. Richard Cliford, I am a Singaporean citizen and a seasoned Banker in Malaysia (Berhad office), I occupy the position of an accountant in this branch office, it is with good spirit of heart I opened up this great opportunity to you; there is a client of mine who died as a result of heart failure; because of the entire family lost their lives in the tsunami disaster on the 26th Dec, 2004,and his account of US$9.500 million with us has been unclaimed due to unavailability of a next of kin/relatives to claim his estate.

Since none of the family relative is alive to claim this fund after bank having waited until now for any relative next of kin to surface in our custody; I decided to contact you fast; so that I can present you as the relative next of kin to my late client; so that bank will wire this fund direct to your bank account. You don’t need to worry yourself in this transaction, it is not going to implicate you to any trouble in your country, and hence I will provide the legal papers in your name and favor.

for more information. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake

In view of this, I am seeking your cooperation and understanding to stand as the deceased next of kin to enable us claim the
inheritance before the period given by the bank elapse. If you are interested and in agreement with me, get back to me quickly and I will send you more information you may need to proceed without coming to Malaysia, and be rest assured that it is risks free project and the proceedings will be shared 50% each as soon as the total money is transfer to your account.

Please reply immediately with your information including your full name, full address and telephone number for easy communication with you.

I await your prompt response immediately to richard_cliford@accountant.com

Best Regards

Mr.Richard Cliford.

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