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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. Zafar Alam Sumbal" <mailzafar@msn.com>
Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2005 21:33:46 +0000
Subject: Mail Alert!!!(From Zafar)

 
www.askaribank.com                                                                                              
 

Dear Sir / Madam,

With all due respect, trust and humility, I present to you what I would term in my own words "an opportunity of a life time"!

By way of introduction, I am Mr. Zafar Alam an Official of Askari commercial Bank Pakistan with a portfolio of an Audit member. There is a dormant account in my bank branch and the owner of the account a Foreign Oil consultant/contractor with the Pakistan Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Mr. Charles. Forest who is deceased.

There is a credit balance Ten Million, two hundred thousand Dollars which has been dormant for five years and still counting.

With my current position as a member of the Audit council I cannot personally lay claims on this money.

My proposal is that I will like you as a Foreigner to stand in as the owner of the money which was fixed deposited in my bank. This is simple. I will like you to provide in due course of our proposed interactions your full names and address so that the Attorney will prepare the necessary documents which will put you in place as the beneficiary of the funds. The money will be moved out for us to share in the ratio of 70% for me and 30% for you.

The paperwork for this transaction will be done by the Attorney and this will guarantees the successful execution of this transaction. If you are interested, please reply immediately via my email and upon your response, I shall then provide you with more details and relevant documents that will help you understand the transaction. I at this point would advice you to please instruct me on how best to contact you.

If you do in anyway feel this transaction could be jeopardized by this your receiving mail box, you could provide me with an alternative one which would be deemed to be more secure.

Please observe utmost confidentiality, and be rest assured that this transaction would be most profitable for both of us because I shall require your assistance to invest my share in real estate within your country. Due to the nature of confidentiality in this transaction our communication can only be via email and fax mostly. I do anticipate you mail soonest so I could brief you on the full modalities of this transaction I pray we both enter into.

Please note, if you are not interested, I beg you in the name of God Almighty to forget about this mail and me, because I have put in many years of meritorious service to this bank and therefore would not want my reputation dented or my family names dragged in mud, I therefore urge you to handle this proposal with strict confidentiality. Please treat with strict confidentiality and utmost urgency.

Thanks and my regards.

Mr. Zafar Alam

Audit Committee Member.

 

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