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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: watsongerrard@zipmail.com.br
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 13:17:11 +0100
Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?VERY=20URGENT?=

Dear 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 WATSON GERARD a Senior Relations
Officer with the NATWEST BANK United Kingdom.A few years go a Foreign
consultant/contractor with the Government, MR. ARTHUR SMITH ,an
American made a numbered time (Fixed) Deposit for twelve calendar
months, running into millions of Dollars in my branch. Upon maturity,
I sent a routine notification to hisforwarding address but got no reply.
After a month, I sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his contract
employers, that MR. ARTHUR SMITH died in an aircrash accident .

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 madefurther
investigation and discovered that Mr. MR. ARTHUR SMITH did not declare any
next of kin or relations in all his official documents, including his Bank
Deposit paperwork in our Bank.

From past experiences, I know that no one will ever come forward to
claim the deceased funds. According to Irish Banks Law at the
expiration of 5 (five) years, the funds will be unclaimable and
revert to the ownership of the Government if nobody
applies to claim the fund. In order to avert this development, I in
conjunction with a colleague (the Chief Operating Officer in the
bank) now seekyourpermission to allow an attorney do a backdated WILL in
your name, so that the funds would be released to you as the new
owner (on behalf of me and my colleague).

We are writing you because,we are only able to benefit from this fund
to further our intended investment purpose by using a front as insiders
to get the money out. Consequently, I will present you as the owner of the
funds so you can be able to claim them with the help of an attorney.

This is simple. I will like you to provide immediately your: FULL
NAME/FULL CONTACT ADDRESS/PHONE/FAX NUMBERS , so that an Attorney will prepare
the necessary documents which will put you in place as the
new owner of the funds. The money will then be released to your
custody by the bank, for us to share in the ratio of 70% for us and
30% for you. There is no risk at all as all the paperwork for this
transaction will be done by the Attorney whom we have briefed about
the transaction with a view to guarantee the successful execution of
this transaction.

If you are interested and capable of handling this transaction which might
not take more than two weeks, please reply immediately via my email address.
Upon your response, I shall then provide you with more details and further
explanation that will help you understand the transaction.

No doubt this proposal will make you apprehensive, please i imploy
you to observe utmost confidentiality and be rest assured that this
transaction would be most profitable for both of us.

Note also that we shall require your assistance to invest our
share in your country for buying of properties like houses, hotels
etc.

This is why your urgent action and response is of priority to enable Us
conclude this transaction, as soon as possible. Awaiting your urgent Reply
.

Thanksandregards.

Mr.WATSON GERRARD




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