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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: "Bernard Madoff" <ben@gig.com>
Reply-To: bernardmadoff47@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2016 06:43:38 -0700
Subject: VERY IMPORTANT!!!


Dear Friend,

I am Bernard Madoff, the founder of Wall Street Firm, Bernard L. Madoff inv=
estmentsecurities LLC in 1960 and was the former chairman of NASDAQ. I was =
accuses of fraud worth over $170 Billion Dollars and was arrested on Dec 11=
, 2008 and on March 12, 2009, I was convicted of 11 federal crimes and admi=
tted to operating the largest ponzi Scheme in history.(http://money.howstuf=
fworks.com/ponzi-scheme5.htm) Let me not go into much details.

I have in my possession the sum of Seventy Million Great British Pounds (70=
,000,000.00GBP) in a Bank, which nobody else knows about this except my acc=
ount officers because the money was deposited under serial codes. I need yo=
ur help, to get this money out from the bank where its deposited and use it=
for charity work. I have lost everything in life and I can't get close to =
this fund on my own due to my situation, because the government have confis=
cated everything that I have. And are still eager to confiscate more if the=
y find out any money or asset linking to me which I do not want it to happe=
n That is why i contacted you to partner with me to get the fund to a safer=
bank where you can have control over it.

This is the sharing modalities, 50% goes to charity and 20% will be mapped =
out for the promotion of gospel, building of churches and mosques all over =
the world and 30% for you. You need to assure me that I can trust you and y=
ou will not capitalize on my problem to divert this fund once it gets to yo=
u. I would have prefer if you can visit me in the prison to see me and disc=
uss detail with me but if you cannot, I will do it basically on trust since=
I have no choice.

I will be waiting for your reply any moment from now.

With Kind regards
Bernard Madoff

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