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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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Fraud email example:

From: "usman ahmed" <usman_ahmed0010@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2004 14:41:44 +0000
Subject: TREAT AS URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL.

FROM THE DESK OF USMAN AHMED

BILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGER
BANK OF AFRICA(B.O.A)
OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO

ATTN friend ,
INTRODUCTION
I am the manager of bill and exchange at the foreign remittance department
BANK OF AFRICA .
In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of U.S$25 US dollars
(Tweenty five Million US dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our
foreign customer who died along with his entire family in November 2000 in a
plane crash.
Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next if
kin to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless
somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as
indicated in our banking guidlines and laws but unfortunately we learnt that
all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the
plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim.
It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this business
proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relation
to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is
coming for it and we don't want this money to go into the bank treasury as
unclaimed bill.
The banking law and guidline here stipulates that if such money remained
unclaimed after four years, the money will be transfered into the bank
treasury as unclaimed fund. The request of foreign as next of kin in this
business is occassioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and a
Burkinabe cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner.
We agree that 30% of this money will be for you as a foreign partner, in
respect to the provision of a foreign account, 10% will be set aside for
expenses incured during the business and 60% would be for me and my
colleagues. There after I will visit your country for disbursement according
to the percentages indicated.
Therefore, to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to you as
arranged, you must apply first to the bank as relation or next of kin of the
deceased indicating your bank name, your bank account number, your private
telephone and fax number for easy and effective communication and location
wherein the money will be remitted.
Upon receipt of your reply, I will send to you by fax or e-mail the text of
the application. I will not fail to bring to your notice that this
transaction is hitch-free and that you should not entertain any atom of fear
as all required arrangements have been made for the transfer.
You should contact me immediately as soon as you receive this letter.
Yours faithfully,
USMAN AHMED
Bill & Exchange Manager

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