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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: "John Ugo" <johnugo@greatmill.com>
Reply-To: johnugo_2002@myway.com
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 00:00:12 +0000
Subject: Private Offer

Dear Friend,

Permit me to introduce myself to you. My name is Mr.John Ugo, Head,
Corporate & Investment Banking with Lagoon International Bank Plc. This
letter may come to you as a surprise since it is coming from someone you
have not met before and due to high volume of Spam mail that goes around the
world through this means but I have no other choice than to send it to you
through the internet means, Therefore, I will appreciate it if you honor it
and give me all your trust and full co operation.

I came to know about you in my private search for a reliable person/company
to handle a confidential transaction on behalf of my Colleagues and myself.
As a matter of fact, I got your contact from the world trade center (WTC)
Regional office in Lagos,
Nigeria.Although the details of my intention was not made known to them.

Proposition :

An America Mr. Morris Thompson who isanOilconsultant/contractor with NNPC
had in our Bank the sum of US$5.5m in a domiciliary account
Number:14-2558-2004, of which I am the account officer, he unfortunately
lost his life in the plane crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 which crashed
on January 31 2000,including his wife and only daughter leaving nobody to
claim the money. He named his wife, as the next of kin. Unfortunately, two
of them died in aplane crash you can confirm it yourself via website :
site;http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/02/01/alaska.airlines.list/
Efforts had been made by the management of my Bank through the American
Embassy in Lagos to contact any of the deceased children but to no avail, as
we were made to understand that the couple had no children. Given the
skeletal information available to the Bank, it has so far been impossible to
reach any of the relatives. The option left for the Bank management is to
declare the deceased account dormant and revert the funds to trading on
behalf of and in the interest of the Bank.

In Nigeria, and almost all other parts of African continent, when Banks
acquire funds such as that of Mr. Morris Thompson, they are required by law
to donate 30% of the funds on acquisition to The Trust Fund For Arms And
Ammunitions. Arms and ammunitions purchased with funds from the Trust Fund
are used to further enhance the course of war in Africa and invariably
turbulence of some sort in the world in general.

It is therefore in order to avoid/avert and discourage this negative
development that my Colleagues and I now seek your assistance to have you
stand as a distant relative {Next Of Kin} to Mr. Morris Thompson, so that
the funds would be released to you. All documents and proofs to enable you
get the funds will be carefully packaged once we receive your consent on
this proposal.

May I assured you that this Transaction is 100% safe and risk-free, as we
have taken care of all necessary modalities to ensure a hitch-free
transaction. I have the authority of my partners involved in this
transaction to propose that should you be willing to assist us in the
transaction your share would be 40% of the US$5.5million, 60% for us.

I have reposed my confidence in you and hope that you
will not disappoint me.

Best Regards.

Mr.John Ugo


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