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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: "Partner Online" <ptonline_6333@msn.com>
Reply-To: joedro633hn@ny.com
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 04:02:02 +0000
Subject: DEAR FRIEND (COMPLIMENT OF THE SEASON)


Dear Trusted Friend,


I apologize if the contents hereunder are contrary to your moral ethics, but
please treat it with absolute secrecy and personal courtesy. I am John Pedro
an Auditor of a commercial Bank here in the United Kingdom, in the process
of auditing our bank accounts I and one of my colleagues discovered that
there is a dormant account valued at the sum £18,700,000.00 (eighteen
million seven hundred thousand British Pounds) and after due verification of
this account we discovered that the account owner is late and that is why
the account has been dormant and as such a £18,700,000.00 has been lying in
the bank unclaimed.

The idea of presenting somebody who is not related to our deceased customer
to act as his next of kin came into our mind, that is how and why we have
contacted you to present you as his next of kin, so that the £18,700,000.00
will be paid to you and we can both disburse the fund according to the
percentage we will agree on. In view of this, I am seeking for your
co-operation and understanding to stand as the next of kin to our deceased
customer, to enable us claim the fund from my bank.
Hence, if this proposal is OK by you and you do not wish to take undue
advantage of my trust, then I hope to bestow on you.

Please kindly get back to me immediately, strictly via my private email
address only: joedro633hn@ny.com to enable me enlightens you on how we
are to proceed. On getting your response, we shall agree on the percentage
of disbursing the £18,700,000.00 between us, as we intend to invest part of
our own share in real estate business in your country,and we would
appreciate if you can put us in the right part investing in your Country. I
will not contact any person or company until I hear from you, so as to
enable me decides on what to do next. Be rest assured that this business is
100% risk free.

We wait for your prompt response.

Regards,
John Pedro.


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