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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: "williams puma" <williamspuma2@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: williamspum@sify.com
Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2005 15:12:42 +0000
Subject: Good day





Good day,



I am Williams Puma, staff of International Private Banking. I am acting
you concerning a deceased customer and an investment he placed under
our banks management Five years ago. I would respectfully request that you
keep the contents of this mail confidential and respect the integrity of the
information you come by as a result of this mail.

I contacted you independently of our investigation and no one is
informed of this communication. I would like to intimate you with certain
facts that I believe would be of interest to you. In 1999, Mr. Andreas
Schranner came to our bank to engage in business discussions with our
private banking division which later led to a deposition of Thirty Two
Million Seven Hundred Thousand United States Dollars, which he wished to
have us turn over (invest) on his behalf. The favored route in my advice to
customers is to start by ssessing data on 6000 traditional stocks and bond
managers and 2000 managers of alternative investments. Based on my advice,
we spun the money around various portunities and made attractive margins In
mid June 2000, he asked
that the money be liquidated because he needed to make an urgent
investment requiring cash payments in the United States of America. In July
of that same year, tragedy struck when a Concorde AF4590 Plane crashed
killing our client with the remaining 108 passengers. For more Information
see BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm.



This was five years ago and no claim has been made by any heir and
failing to receive viable claims the bank will most probably claim the
deposit and the portfolio will be out of my hands and out of the Private
Banking division. What I wish to relate to you will smack of unethical
practice but I want you to understand something. It is only an outsider to
the banking world who finds the internal politics of the banking world
aberrational. The world of private banking especially is fraught with huge
rewards for those who occupy certain offices and oversee certain portfolios.
You should have begun by now to put together the general direction of what I
propose. I alone have the relevant details to make you a Business Partner to
the deceased.This bank has spent great amounts of money trying to track this
man’s family; they have investigated for months and have found no family
left for claimant. The investigation has almost come to an end. My proposal
(should you accept); I am prepared to place you in a position where the
funds can be your inheritance as his business partner which gives you
legal rights over the funds in question.

We can fine-tune this based on our interactions. I am aware of the
consequences of this proposal. I ask that if you find no interest in
this project that you should discard this mail. I ask that you do not be
vindictive and destructive.If my offer is of no appeal to you, delete this
message and forget I ever contacted you. Do not destroy my career because
you do not approve of my proposal.


I await your response.

Williams Puma.


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