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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: Brian Smith <ktsang30@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: brian_smith1125@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:41:30 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: Hello, how are you doing?


Hello, how are you doing?





Am sending you this email in regard of a deal I want you to help me get
done which you will benefit from after we share the money. I am aware
that this is an unconventional way of relaying an important deal such as
this. I did try without success to locate both your contact address or
phone/fax number and as such, I resorted in contacting you via email.





I want to place your name as the beneficiary to Thomas Stone's account
who die without any recorded beneficiary in his bank deposit and the
family is know where to be found, that's why I contacted you so that
once you have the money as the beneficiary, I will come over to meet you
for us to share. Sometimes a person will open a bank account, deposit
money, and then disappear into the tin air. Banks are not always able to
find out what has become of these silent customers, or to know whether
they should follow up on requests from people who claim to be heirs to
the accounts.





The main problem is that the customer resides abroad and, due to bank
secrecy, the bank cannot publish notices in the international press to
locate the depositories or Beneficiaries. All I need is to place your
name and address in the system data base as the beneficiary since I have
the system password and I will direct you how we can do this legally
without any problem. If you have any question ask me.


 Brian Smith

Anti-fraud resources: