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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: "Dr. Swansea Paul" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <drswanseapaul@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2014 04:56:08 -0500
Subject: Investment Partnership

From: Dr. Swansea Paul
Esso UK Limited,
registered in England under company number 1589650,
ExxonMobil House
Ermyn Way Leatherhead
Surrey, KT22 8UX .
Tel: +447700067769
Email: drswanseapaul@gmail.com
I am Dr. Swansea Paul an Engineer with Exxon Mobil in London http://www.exxonmobil.co.uk). I got your contact address from an associate working with the British Export Promotion Council. Before i continue, let me stress that I am NOT contacting you for financial assistance.
I and my colleagues are officials in charge of offshore remittance in this establishment. We are seeking your assistance to move of [GBP £35,000,000.00] THIRTY FIVE MILLION POUNDS STERLING] to your account/country for further private investment.
Please note that the nature of your job/business does not matter and you will be better informed when I hear from you. This amount accrued from an over-invoiced contract amount for the construction of an Oil Refinery Sub-stations in east London in 2005 to expatriate companies. The contract was originally valued for One Hundred and Twenty Seven Million Pounds Sterling (£127,000,000.00), but we manipulated the figure to read One Hundred and Sixty Million Pounds Sterling (£162,000,000.00). The extra £35,000,000.00 is what we want to move to your account for our own personal use.
This contract has been completely executed and the original contractors have been paid their entire contract sum. We have agreed to remunerate you with 30% because it is impossible for us to claim the amount here in London without foreign collaboration. 10% has been mapped out for any miscellaneous expenses incurred by either party during this business such as taxation in your country upon arrival of the funds into your account, and 60% for my colleagues and myself.
All modalities to move this money have been worked out. This transaction is 100% risk free but requires 100 percent confidentiality. This is a golden opportunity, which must not be allowed to slip out of any careless acts and utterances. We chose you for this transaction because we believe that good friendship can be discovered and businesses such as this cannot be realized without trust. You can be rest assured that your security has been considered before you were contacted.
I will let you have the details in my next message, but in summary, the fund would be moved to you from the financial institution where it is presently deposited as soon as you agree to participate and receive this funds on our behalf.
Upon the receipt of this message, feel free to send to me the following to enable us start the process:
(1) Your Full Name
(2) Complete Address
(3) Telephone
(4) Profession
Thanks and best regards in anticipation of your response.
Best Regards,
Dr. Swansea Paul

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