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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: "Prince William" <princewilliams4@worldbusinesslink.org>
Reply-To: prince_william7@yahoo.co.in
Date: Sun, 09 Jan 2005 03:54:20 +0100
Subject: From Prince William,

Dear Sir/Madam,

This letter might surprise you because we have met neither
in person nor by correspondence, but I believe that it
takes just one day to meet or know someone either
physically or through correspondence.
I got your contact through my personal search, you were
revealed as being quite astute in private
Entrepreneurship, one has no doubt in your ability to
handle a financial business transaction.

However, I am the first son of His Royal Majesty Pepple
Y. William, the traditional ruler of Bonny province in the
Oil rich area of Rivers state in Nigeria. I am making this
contact to you in respect of USD45, 000,000.00 (Forty Five
Million United States Dollars), which I inherited from my
late father.
As You may be aware that my country is the third largest
oil producing country in the whole world. My father is the
ruler of the richest community in Nigeria. My community
produce 5.8% of the total annual Oil production in Nigeria
and 0.5% of the Dollar value of each barrel is paid to my
father as royalty by the Federal Government to our
community. In his position as the royal head and chairman
of the Bonny Oil trust fund.

Foreigners often refer to his kingdom as the Gas/Oil Land.
This is because the island floats atop one of the largest
gas and oil deposits anywhere in the world. This explains
is why the island is home to several Multinational oil
companies, such as Shell, Exxon-Mobil, Chevron and one of
Nigeria's most expensive ventures in recent time, Nigeria
Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG), these companies also
offers my father a lot of gratifications as the royal
father of the kingdom where they operate.
Some of this money was accumulated from royalties paid to
my father as compensation by the Oil firms located in our
area, for hampering Agriculture which is our main source
of livelihood. Unfortunately my father died from
protracted diabetes. Before his death secretely he willed
the sum of USD45, 000,000.00 (Forty Five Million United
States Dollars) and he safely deposited this money in cash
into a consignment and kept it in the custody of a
security company without the security company knowing the
content.

I have the certificate of Deposit and any information you
wish to have as a proof to show for it.
My problem actually started when my stepmother said that
the next king must be her son instead of me as the heir
apparent to the throne. I am the first son of my father
but my stepmother has used her position and influence to
convince some members of the council of elders that my
biological mother was not properly married to my father
because my mother is not living in the palace due to some
problems within the family before the death of my father.
This action by my step mother is just a bid to deny me of
my right, which I challenged. In the process there was
confusion that divided the communi ty into two factions.
This led to a revolution by the youths and women who are
solidly behind me. Consequently, my international passport
was seized just to stop me from traveling outside the
country.

Now I need help. I need someone who will claim the fund my
father deposited with the financial security company and
deposit it in his/her personal account pending when I will
be free again. Please, help me to salvage the only hope of
survival that I now have of which my step mother and the
children do not know about this money.

I am in need of help to safe guide this money so as to
settle down and fight for my rightful throne. Right now, I
am in hiding and I do not want this money to stay much
more in the security company because I don't want to incur
extra cost on the deposit since I don't know how long my
problem will last.

If you can help me in this my time of need, I will give
you 20% of the total sum, while 80% will be kept for me.

I look forward to your helping me.

Yours sincerely,

Prince Yobo William.


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