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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: "fakpanjude@ommail.com" <fakpanjude@ommail.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 16:59:59 -0500
Subject: Regarding Ms Jean D.Allen's Account In My Bank

Dear friend,

My name is Akpan Jude, personal assistant to director
international
remittance department union bank of Nigeria plc.I am writing
in respect of a
foreign customer of my bank (Ms Jean D. Allen, of America)
who perished in
the plane crash of 31 October 1999 [with Egyptian airline
990] with other
passengers aboard as you can confirm it yourself through
these web sites.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/502503.stm
<http://webmail.i12.com/webmail?redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.bbc.co.uk%2F1%2Fhi%2Fworld%2Famericas%2F502503.stm&timestamp=1122406147&md5=3lFaZH4rKF6Ysi39UPMJLA%3D%3D>
http://www.cnn.com/us/9911/01/egyptair.03/
<http://webmail.i12.com/webmail?redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2Fus%2F9911%2F01%2Fegyptair.03%2F&timestamp=1122406147&md5=3lFaZH4rKF6Ysi39UPMJLA%3D%3D>

since the demise of Ms Jean D. Allen, I personally have
watched with keen
interest to see the next of kin but all has proved abortive
as no one has
come to claim her funds of USD30m,(thirty million united
states dollars) has
been with our bank here for a very long time on this note I
decided to seek
for whom his name shall be used as the next of kin, as no
one has come up to
put claim as the next of kin to this funds and the banking
ethics here does
not allow such money to stay more than six years, because
after six years
the money will be called back to the bank treasury as
unclaimed bill.

In view of this I got your contact through my country's
foreign trade
mission after I was convinced in my mind that your
name/company could be
used as the next of kin to this claim. The request of the
foreigner as a
next of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that
the customer was
a foreigner and a Nigerian cannot stand as the next of kin
to a foreigner.

I agreed that 30% of this money will be for you as a foreign
partner in
respect of providing an account while 10% will take of any
expenses that
might be incurred in the process of succeeding the transfer
and the rest
will be for me. Thereafter I will visit your country for
disbursement as I
am almost due for retirement.

Upon the receipt of you, I will send you by fax or e-mail a
draft
application of claim which you will send to the bank as the
next of kin and
the next step to take.

I will not fail to bring to your notice that this business
is hitch free and
that you should not entertain any fear as the whole required
arrangement has
been perfected for the transfer.

Regards,

Akpan Jude

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