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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. MICHAEL JAMES BILLY" <jamesbilly@ourwest.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jame_sbilly@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2005 20:45:31 +0400
Subject: [SPAM] - RE: KEEP SECRET FOR MUTUAL INTEREST - Found word(s) no risk risk free in the Text body

ATTN: Friend

I write to seek your participation in a transaction that would be of mutual benefit to both of us. Before my proposal to you, let me introduce myself.. My name is Michael James Billy, I am an administrative officer, working with a diplomatic
fiduciary/security company in Gulf Region(middle east).
My duty involves administrative documentation of deposits in the
company. In the course of one of my daily routines of stock taking, I had noticed that there had been a particular deposit/consignment in the company that has been dormant for the past 9 years, which no one had since come forth for.

To this effect, late last year, I began making some private
investigations to ascertain the beneficiary,its nature and other
relevant information on the deposit/consignment. I found out that the beneficiary of the deposit had since passed on 5 years ago. Upon going through the deposit form as filled, at the time of deposit. The beneficiary did not state or fill out any next of kin, in case of his death. Thus, hereby leaving the deposit dormant till date. However, most stunning was my further investigation to ascertain the content of the deposit. I discovered that the consignment was filled with cash of dollar bills. Judging from the weight and seize of the consignment, I have calculated and proximate the amount of cash in it to be about US$18.5m dollars(Eighteen million five hundred dollars cash) All these are known to only me here. Now, I seek your
assistance/partnership to claim the said consignment from the
company and split the cash between us in a ratio that would be
negotiated between us.

This of course, is subject to your acceptance to participate in this transaction. Please note that by virtue of my designation in the company,I have worked out perfect modality as well as I shall provide the relevant information/ documentation for the successful claim of the consignment. Be rest assured that the transaction Carry's no risk whatsoever. In this regard and in order to keep it risk free, I expect you should be able to keep the transaction highly confidential. Please acknowledge or indicate your resolve on the above transaction. Upon my receipt of reply from you to my alternative e-mail address {michael_jamesbilly@yahoo.com}, I shall furnish you with in-depth details of this transaction.
I hope to hear from you soon Best Regards,

Yours" faithfully,
Mr. Michael James Billy.




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