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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: "Dr.Bright Destiny" <dr_bright_destiny2@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 19:19:21 +0000
Subject: PRIVATE AND URGENT MESSAGE TO YOU.............Janwillem Bech.

From: Dr.Bright Destiny.
Ecowas Regional Investment Bank(ERIB)
13 rue du Commerce,BP 346,Lome,Togo.
Date:04/07/2005.

Attn: The President/Ceo,

With all due respect to your personality, I request that you do not feel
disturbed as I know that business of this magnitude will surely make one
apprehensive.

I write to solicit your utmost confidence, knowing too well that we have
neither known nor met each other before, but because you and the late
Mr.William Lewis MAYBE from the same country. Having searched through the
internet,from where I got your email address, I hereby request that you
become the Next of Kin to the late customer of our bank, Late Mr. William
Lewis, who died in West Africa here and abandoned a fixed deposit of Eight
Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (USD $ 8.500.000.00),
without a specified next of kin to inherit the deposit at the time of his
death.(May be he did this because of the fact that he was into crude oil
deals called)"Oil bunckering" here in west Africa.

My name is Dr.Bright Destiny. I am an accountant and the accounting officer
to the William Lewis in the Ecowas Regional Investment Bank(ERIB). In the
financial Laws of the Federal Republic of Togo, the holding bank is required
to repatriate any abandoned fund by a foreigner if nobody comes to claim the
said funds after three (3) years of the confirmation of the death of the
depositor.

For the past three years, all the effort of our Customer Service Department
to trace any relative of the Late Mr. William Lewis has proved abortive. I
do not want this funds to go into the hands of our

corrupt government officials, who have embezzled our national funds all
these years.

My interest in this abandoned deposit is as follows:

(1) To see that this abandoned deposit is not handed over to the corrupt
government officials of our recent President Faure Gnassingbe.

(2) To make you the Next of Kin to the late Mr. William Lewis and whom he
has willed the said deposit before his death.

(3) To ensure that the deposited funds is transferred to you as your
INHERITANCE.

(4) To ensure that my own share of it is invested wisely in your country in
any viable area of investment.

Bear in mind that the entire transaction will be risk - free involvement
from your side and legitimate since the funds will be coming to you as your
INHERITANCE. If this proposition is acceptable by you, respond to me ASAP
but if not acceptable by you, do not take advantage of it to betray me.

Remember that doing business over the Internet could sometimes be
unconfidential. If acceptable by you, send me your private telephone and fax
numbers for me to call you for detailed discussion.

God bless.

Dr.Bright Destiny.
(Accountant, (ERIB),LOME-TOGO).

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