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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: jacobmandla30@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 13:18:58 +0200
Subject: VERY IMPORTANT

FROM THE DESK OF MR, JACOB MANDLA
ABSA BANK OF SOUTH AFRICA
jacobmandla@yahoo.com



DEAR,SIR/MADAM


I am MR JACOB MANDLA, the manager bills/exchange at the foreign
remittance
department in ABSA BANK LIMITED.In my department, we discovered an
abandon
sum of US$ 20.9m(tweenty Millon Nine Hundred United States Dollars) in
an
account that
belongs to one of our foreign customers who died along with his entire
family on Nov 1994 in a ghastly plane crash. Since we got information
about
his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over to claim
his
money because we cannot release it unless somebody applied for it as
his
next of kin, or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking
guideline.

But unfortunately, nobody has come forward to claim this money. It is
based
on this that some officials in my department whom am restricted to
mention
their names depending, on your response to this matter have decided to
establish a cordial business relationship with you, hence by contacting
you
first through media. We want to furnish you with the whole information
about
the deceased so that the bank can remit this money into your nominated
account.

Moreover, we do not want this money to go into the government account
as an
unclaimed bill as usual. Because the banking law here stipulates that
any
account that is been abandoned or dormant for a period of years, is
deemed
closed and all the money therein will be forfeited to the government
treasury account. Now, it is being stipulated that the above sum will
be
transferred into the government account as an unclaimed fund as soon as
possible.

The reason for requesting you to present yourself as the next of kin is
occasioned by the fact that the decease (customer) was a foreigner. The
mode of sharing after transferring of this fund into your nominated
account
is: 70% for my colleagues and I, 25% of the total sum will be for you
for
the role you will play for this transaction, 5% will be for expenses
that
we might encounter at the course of transaction.

Therefore we are expecting to hear from you, indicating your
willingness so
that we will furnish you with the whole information regarding to this
transaction and the exact steps to follow. I await your reply through
my
email address above to enable us to conclude this transaction urgently.

Please keep this letter very confidential for security reason because
of the
sensitive position of the personalities involved in this transaction.

Best Regards,

MR JACOB MANDLA

(MANAGER BILLS/EXCHANGE CONTROL).


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