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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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: barrister_martins147@tiscali.co.uk
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2005 10:26:52 -0800
Subject: please help

I am Barrister Gbenga Martins esq, I am the Personal Attorney to Mr. Gerald

Welsh a national of your country, who used to work with Shell Petroleum

Development Company in Nigeria (SPDC). On the 31st of October 1999, my
client, his wife (Mrs. Caryl Welsh) and their three little children were

involved in a plane crash, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.

Unfortunately they All lost their lives in the event of the crash, Since
then
I have made several enquiries to your Embassy to locate any of my clients

extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful. After these several

attempts, I decided to trace his relatives over the Internet to locate any

member of his family but of no avail, hence I contacted you.

I contacted you to assist in repartrating the money and property left behind

by my client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the

bank where this huge deposits were lodged. Particularly, the Bank where
the
deceased had an account valued at about $16.5 million U.S dollars (Sixteen

million, five hundred thousand dollars).
Conseqently, The bank issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have

the account confiscated within the next ten official working days. Since
I
have been unsuccesfull in locating the the relatives for over 2 years now.
I
seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased since
you
are from the same country so that the proceeds of this account valued at

$16.5 million U.S dollars can be paid to you and then you and me can share

the money. 55% to me and 40% to you, while 5% should be for expenses or
tax
as your government may require.

I have all necessary legal documents that can be used to back up any claim
we
may make. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this
deal
through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate
arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please get
in
touch with me by my email to enable us discuss further.

Yours Faithfully,
Barrister Gbenga Martins esq.
Please indicate your full interest by inculding phone and fax number.i

___________________________________________________________

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