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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: "Walter Frankland" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <vabeneficiaries@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2013 07:29:59 -0500
Subject: Your urgent attention is needed

Untitled Document
 
MEMO FROM THE STANDARD CHARTERED BANK, SOUTH AFRICA

 

a

Bereavement and Inheritance Unit
Standard Chartered Bank, South Africa
5th Floor, No. 4 Sandown Valley Crescent,
Sandton 2196,
Gauteng Province,
South Africa

Hello,

A customer with the bank has authorized us to send you an anonymous gift. We are contacting you because the Preloaded Credit Card is ready for delivery. For verification purpose, a picture copy of the Pre-loaded Credit Card will be made available to you after due reconfirmation of your full names and Address.

No futher information will be made available to you because we have been instructed to make this an anonymous gift. The sender of this Anonymous gift is from Pretoria, South Africa and this is the only information we can provide at this time.

Immediately the Pre-loaded Credit Card plus Pin Slip has been delivered; you can utilize the closes ATM Machine to activate the Pre-loaded Credit Card, Change your Pin and resume use of the Pre-loaded Credit Card which was loaded with $1,500,000.

On the other hand, we have not been able to get a hold of the customer on phone and findings revealed that the customer has travelled for a 3 month sabbatical leave. This is why we are contacting you to ask if you wish to be responsible for the logistics for delivery of the Pre-loaded Credit Card to you or if we should wait for the return of the customer in 3 months time.

You are to send the below requested information through the e-mail address: vabeneficiaries@yahoo.com.hk

First Name:  
Last Name:  
Full Address:  
Country  

Thank you for your co-operation,

Yours in Service:

b
Walter L. Frankland
Bereavement and Inheritance Unit
Standard Chartered Bank, South Africa
5th Floor, No. 4 Sandown Valley Crescent,
Sandton 2196, Gauteng Province, South Africa

Forward your information through the processing office: vabeneficiaries@yahoo.com.hk

 

Anti-fraud resources: