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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: "Mark Christopher" <markchris02@msn.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 21:15:18 +0000
Subject: NOTIFICATION

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL NOTIFICATION OF FUNDS DEPOSITED IN YOUR NAME AND
THIS IS
NOT A SALES SOLICITATION OR SPAM.

I represent George & George LLF, a law firm that arranges untraceable
asset
management and
safekeeping of special and valuable packages and baggage in trust for
reputable clients that are honest and trustworthy.

We wish to inform you of the availability of a safe deposit box with a
Security firm for
which you have been listed as the beneficiary, a benefactor whose
identity
can not be disclosed because of the Non Circumvention and Non
Disclosure
Agreement that was signed with the said benefactor when the safe
deposit box
was being deposited, made you the beneficiary of a box
which contains some amount of money and instructed clearly that you
should
only be notified of its availability after the expiration of the
maturity
date and that time has already elapsed, that is why you are being
contacted.

The Non Circumvention and Non Disclosure Agreement signed with the
benefactor mandates us to fully divulge and disclose the benefactor's
identity one month after you, the beneficiary, has
confirmed receipt of the funds.

The funds in the safe deposit box totals £2.5M (Two million five
hundred
thousand British Pound
Sterling) and we confirm that these funds are fully free of any liens,
or
encumbrances and are clean, clear and of non-criminal origin and are
available in the form of CASH. The monies have been declared as Family
Documents instead of CASH. The Security Company does not know the true
contents of the box and you must not disclose the information to them
or to anybody whatsoever.

You are hereby advised to reconfirm your Full Contact Information for
verification with information contained in our computer database as
well as
other relevant information in the
format stated below. As soon as the information is confirmed with that
provided by your benefactor, you will be notified immediately with
instructions necessary for you to arrangements and pick up the safe
deposit
box from the security company.

We at George & George LLF, want to state clearly that our job will be
to
monitor the claim, give
assistance where necessary and also advice you on behalf of your
benefactor.
We cannot be directly involved in the claim, you will have to arrange
directly with the Security company on the best and safest way for you
to
pick up your money as soon as possible.

The Requested Information is to ensure that no mistake or error is made
and
it should
be forwarded in the manner stated below:

Your Full Name: ___________________________________

Your Complete Address: ___________________________________

Name of City of Residence: ___________________________________

Age ___________________________________

Occupation ___________________________________

Direct Telephone Number: ___________________________________

Direct Fax Number: ___________________________________


The Telephone & Fax numbers are very necessary as they will be
forwarded to
the Security company staff, and forms faxed to you before the funds
would be
handed over to you so
as to ensure that the package is handed over to the right person.

So,its mandatory you send your Direct Telephone Number preferably your
Mobile or Cell Phone Number.

Congratulations in advance.

Thank you and I sincerely remain

George Newman
George & George LLF


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