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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.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Benson Ali" <benson_ali@msn.com>
Reply-To: bensonaallii@yahoo.co.in
Date: Thu, 06 Oct 2005 21:17:12 +0000
Subject: NOTICE

DEAR FRIEND,

MY NAME IS MR.BENSON ALI, PERSONAL SECRETARY TO MR.BORIS MIKHAIL
KHODORKOVSKY.THE ARRESTED CHAIRMAN/CEO OF YUKOS OIL AND BANK MENATEP
SPB IN RUSSIA.

I HAVE THE DOCUMENTS OF A LARGE AMOUNT OF FUNDS WHICH HE HANDED OVER
TO ME BEFORE HE WAS DETAINED AND NOW BEEN TRIED IN RUSSIA FOR
FINANCING POLITICAL PARTIES (THE UNION OF RIGHT FORCES, LED BY BORIS NEMTSOV
AND YABLOKO, A LIBERAL/SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY LED BY GREGOR
YAVLINSKY) OPPOSED TO THE GOVERNMENT OF MR.VLADMIR PUTIN.

THE PRESIDENT THEREBY LEADING TO THE FREEZING OF HIS FINANCES AND
ASSETS.AFTER SEARCHING THROUGH THE INTERNET I GOT YOUR CONTACT.
I AM CONTACTING YOU TO ASSIST ME TO RE-PROFILE THE FUNDS AND EQUALLY
INVEST SAME ON HIS BEHALF.

THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF FUNDS TO BE RE-PROFILLED IS EIGHTY SIX MILLION
DOLLARS (USD$86,000,000.00).AND YOU WILL BE PAID 15% FOR YOUR
MANAGEMENT SERVICES.AS SOON AS I RECEIVE YOUR ACCEPTANCE, I WILL SEND YOU
THE
NECESSARY DETAILS AND MY IDENTIFICATION.

YOURS SINCERELY,
MR.BENSON ALI.
NB: YOU CAN READ MORE OF HIS ORDEAL FROM:
<http://newsfromrussia.com/main/2005/03/29/58914.html>
<http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue=11261041>
<http://www.supportmbk.com/>
<http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Mikhail-Khodorkovsky>


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