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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: "Mr. Owen Botes" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <owen0botes@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2018 23:55:20 -0700
Subject: Your Permission.

Dear,
My name is Mr. Owen Botes, I work with a private security and deposit firm in United Kingdom. With my position as the General Manager of this firm, I am privileged to classified information on clients records. Over the last few years I have been monitoring one particular deposit account owned by an American businessman who died since 2008 with no details of any next of kin.
I am looking for a trust-worthy foreign partner with whom I can work with and present as next of Kin for this account in order to claim this deposit and I am willing to share these  funds 50/50 with this individual. I will be retiring from this company by next year and there is no better time to pull this deal than now.
I have over the years worked-out a perfect modality to successfully claim this fund, by whoever I present as a next of kin to this deceased client irrespective of his or her country of origin.
Kindly get back to me if you are interested in this deal so that I can provide you with more information’s on how we can execute this.
Waiting your urgent response
Best Regards
Mr. Owen Botes

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