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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: "fred williams" <fredchambers31@msn.com>
Reply-To: fredrick_williams007@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 09:31:00 +0000
Subject: NEXT OF KIN






FREDRICK WILLIAMS CHAMBERS & CO.
(SOLICITORS, ADVOCATES/NOTARY PUBLIC)
FEDERAL PALACE HOUSE, GARIKI ROAD,
ABUJA BUSINESS PARK
ABUJA-NIGERIA
Private e-mail:(fredchamber@myway.com)

                         NEXT OF KIN

Dear Friend,

I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise, please accept the content in good faith. I do not intend to cause any grief to you and your family. The reason for sending this mail is very fundamental to the doctrine of human privileges and right. My name is Barrister Fred Williams; a legal practitioner and the personal Attorney to late Mr. Richard Hilton, a national of your country who died along with his wife and two sons in plane crash that occured on 23rd of October 2005; you can visit the website below for the full coverage :(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4372458.stm)

All the passengers on board lost their lives. I am convinced that it was thegrace of God that made me to locate you. My client was a successful andis an accomplished family man, who made enough fortune before his untimely death. Since then I had made several inquiries through your Embassy to locate any of my clients extended relative but this exercisehas proved unsuccessful. After several unsuccessful attempts,
 
I decidedto trace his relatives through the Internet, to locate any member of hisfamily, not much progress was recorded. My late client was an influential wealthy business man, an oil magnet here in Nigeria and heleft behind a deposit of twenty Million United States Dollars only($20,000,000.00usd) in his domiciliary bank account in a commercial bankhere in Lagos.

After the death of my client his bankers contactedme, as his Attorney to provide his next of kin who should inherit hisfunds. The board of directors of his bank adopted a resolution and I was mandated to provide his next of kin for the payment of this money within 28 working days or forfeit the money to the bank as an abandonedproperty. The bankers had planned to invoke the abandoned property decree of 1996 to confiscate the funds after the expiration of the period given to me. Fortunately, I came across your name, I therefore,decided to contact you with these facts before me.By virtue of mycloseness to the deceased and his immediate family, I am very much awareof my client financial standing and the bank account he operates.

Ihave reasoned very professionally and I feel it will be legally properto present you as the next of kin of my deceased client, so that you canbe paid the funds left in his bank account. I therefore seek your consent to present you as the Next of Kin to the Deceased since you areat an advantage, bearing the same surname and equally from the same country, that the proceeds of this Bank Account valued at $20 Million Dollars can be paid to you. We shall both share the funds. 50% for meand 40% to you, while 10% should be for Expenses or your Government mayrequire Taxes.

I shall assemble all the necessary Legal Documents that will be used to back up our claim. All I require is yourhonest cooperation to enable us seeing this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of law. Please get in touch with me by email to enable us discuss further. For privacy and confidentiality replyusing my email box: (fredchamber@myway.com
).Thank you very much for your anticipated acceptance while we expect your prompt response.

Yours faithfully,
FREDRICK WILLIAMS

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