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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: "Mr Okonkwo" <johk32@tiscali.co.uk>
Reply-To: johk@yandex.ru
Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2005 15:14:05 +0100
Subject: hello

African Development Bank,
ABUJA NIGERIA,
4th of March, 2005.

Dear Respected friend,

This is a proposal in context but actually an appeal soliciting for your
unreserved assistance in consummating an urgent transaction requiring maximum
confidence. Though this approach appears desperate,I can assure you
that whatever questions you would need to ask or any other thing you will
need to know regarding this proposal will be adequately answered to give
you a clearer understanding of it, so as to arrive at a successful conclusion.

My name is Mr john Okonkwo, the Chief Auditor of African Development Bank
(ADB)Abuja Nigeria. On December 6, 1998, a foreign consultant/contractor
with the Cadbury Kenya Ltd,Mr. Shaline Adam,made a numbered time (fixed)
Deposit for twelve calendar months,valued at US$30,000,000.00, (Thirty Million
United States Dollars) in my branch. Upon maturity, I sent a routine notification
to his forwarding address but got no reply. After a month, I sent a reminder
and finally we discovered from his contract employers, the Cadbury Kenya
Ltd, that Mr.Shaline Adam died in the october,1999 Egypt air crash.You can
visit the sites to confirm this:

http://www.greatdreams.com/PassEAir990.htm
http://www.cnn.com/US/9911/02/egyptair990.list/index.html

On further investigation,I found out that he died without making a WILL,
and all attempts to trace his next of kin was fruitless. I therefore made
further investigation and discovered that Mr.Shaline Adam did not declare
any next of
kin or relations in all his official documents,including his Bank Deposit
paperwork in our Bank. I have carefully moved out these funds(US$30million)from
our bank as sundry funds to an offshore Deposit Company in the European Union.
From past experiences, I know that no one will ever come forward to claim
the deceased funds.

According to the Law, at the expiration of 5 (five) years,the funds will
be Unclaimable and revert to the ownership of the Nigerian Government if
nobody applies to claim the fund. In order to avert this negative development,
I now seek your permission to allow my attorney do a CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP/REASSIGNMENT
OF CREDIT of stated funds from the! "deceased" to your name, so that the
funds(US$30million)would be released to you as the new owner. I am
writing you because, as a public servant, i cannot operate a foreign account
.

No doubt this proposal will make you apprehensive, but you shall be rewarded
accordingly. Please i implore you to observe utmost confidentiality and rest
assured that this transaction would be most profitable for both of us because
i shall require your assistance to invest my share in your country (buying
of properties like real estate etc). This is why your urgent action and response
is of priority to enable us conclude this transaction in a timely and professional
manner.I await your urgent response
please through my email.

Thanks for anticipated and kind co-operation.

Yours Sincerely,

Mr. John Okonkwo S.


___________________________________________________________

Book yourself something to look forward to in 2005.
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Bargain holidays - http://www.tiscali.co.uk/travel/holidays/



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