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

Fraud email example:

From: "Union Bank" <unionbank_nig@unionbanknigplconline.com>
Date: Sun, 09 Oct 2005 17:13:00 +0000
Subject: Thanks for your concern

Dear James Edward Long,
The banking rules and regulations here stipulates it that any payment
should be made within 10 working days,unless an official letter for an
extension of time is been submitted to the bank,of which your lawyer has
submitted a letter for an extension of time on your behalf which will last
for another 5 working days.
I will like you to know that we are bankers,and our services are strictly
banking services,as the only thing we can provide for you is his account
informations and if you need any other information you can consult your
lawyer here for that.
We know Mr Alam Long as our customer just like every other customer in our
bank.
He has $9.5m initially in our bank,and after auditing on the third quarter
of this year,it is recorded that his money has gotten an interest of $1.2m
which makes it a total of $10.7m(Ten Million Seven Hundred Thousand United
States Dollars)so now the money that will be transfered to you as his next
of kin and the beneficiary of this money is $10.7m.

Yours Faithfully,
Mrs Esther Udozor
(For:Manager International Remittance Dept)


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