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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: "Obum Walter, .Esq." <obum.walter@yahoo.pt>
Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 13:15:01 +0200 (EET)
Subject: Dear Good Friend,





Dear Good Friend,

My name is Barr.Obum Walter, I am a citizen of Republic of Benin in West African region.I am writing for the following opportunity in my office that will be of immense benefit to both of us. I am the personal attorney to late Mr.Daniel Dawson from Belgium who was a senior staff of RCC construction company, he died on November 17 2009 in auto crash.

My client had an account with BANK here in Cotonou Benin valued at $18.7M USD (Eighteen million seven hundred thousand united states dollars)I made several inquiries to locate any of my clients extended relatives in Belgium since after his death, All my efforts to locate any of his relatives proved unsuccessful.

Recently, the bank has issued me a notice to provide his next of kin who will claim his funds or have his account confiscated and divert the funds to federal Reserve bank,Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for years now, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased,so that the bank can release the money to you as the next of kin to the deceased customer, This money has been dormant for years in the Bank without claim,and I don't want the money to go into the Federal Reserve Bank of Benin(FRBB) as unclaimed funds.

Please
I would like you to keep this transfer as a top secret between me and you alone , I have all the necessary information and legal documents needed to back you up for the claim.All I require from you is your honest co-operation to enable us see this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

Thanks as I am looking forward to read your positive response through my private email address, (obum.walter@yahoo.pt)

Yours Faithfully,
Obum Walter, .Esq.

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