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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. C. Sherman" <cpung@zwallet.com> (may be fake)
Date: Wed, 2 Nov 2005 16:44:42 +0100
Subject: Re: For your kind attention.

For your kind attention.

Do accept my sincere apologies if my mail does not meet your personal
ethics. I will introduce myself as Mr C. Sherman, a staff in the Accounts
Management Section of a well-known bank in Europe.

One of our accounts with holding balance of US$20,000,000(Twenty Millions US
Dollars) has been Dormant and has not been operated for the past 5 years.

>From my investigations and confirmations, the owner of this account a
foreigner, died in August 2000 and since his death nobody has done anything
as regards the claiming of this money because he has no family members who
were aware of the existence of neither the account nor the funds.

Also, information from the National Immigration stated that he was also
single on entry into Europe.

I had discussed this matter with some of my bank Top Officials and we have
agreed to find a Reliable Partner to deal with. We thus propose to do
business with you, standing in as the NEXT OF KIN to the deceased, and funds
will be released to you after due processes have been followed.

This transaction is totally free of risk and troubles as the fund is
legitimate and does not originate from Drug, Money Laundry, Terrorism or any
other illegal act.

Also, after a successful completion of this transaction, we intend to give
you 30% and 10% for whatever expenses that we both may incur, while 60% of
the total amount will be for us which we also intend to invest in your
country in any viable business venture.


If you are interested, send me the following information via email
charlesis@zwallet.com

1 First and Last Name:
2 Full Address
3. Phone and Fax numbers (for proper communication.)
4. Sex, Age and Occupation.

Thank you for your understanding.


Regards,
Mr C. Sherman



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