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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: "david williams" <david_8000_williams@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: david_1000_williams@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2006 15:48:48 +0200
Subject: (International Trust House)

From Mr David Williams
No 3326Kgaladi Street Protea
west P.O.Tshiawelo 1515 Soweto
South Africa
Dear Good Friend.
 
My Name is Mr David Williams chief credit officer with (International Trust House) here in South Africa . In my department i discovered an abandoned  consignment worth over sum of US$20M dollars (Twenty Million US dollars) in file that belongs to one of our foreign customer (Mr. Christian Goetz, And his wife Iren Vogt-Goetz, )who died along with his entire family in July 2000 in a plane crash. Below is a website which i will appreciate you go through to read the information.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
 
Since then I have made several enquiries to locate any of the above mentioned person extended relatives, this has also proved abortive. Now the reason while of contacting you is base on trust to enable me present you as the next-of-kin to him so that this consignment fund will be released to you as the next-of-kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody as come to our company for claiming of theconsignment and note it will be very easy to convince the company since I havethe necessary legalised documents that backup the consignment and which will present you the rightful next-of-kin to the deceased customer.
 
I don't want this money to go into the company treasury as unclaimed bill. These is because the company law and guideline here stipulates that if such consignment remained unclaimed after Five years, the company will confiscate and use it on companies personal effects. Therequest of foreigner as next-of-kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and an Indigen here cannot stand as next-of-kin to a foreigner.
 
All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us see this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.
 
I agree that 30% of this money will be for you as a respect to the provision of your assistance , 5% will be set aside for expenses incurred during the business, another 5% to help the less privilege and to assist the charity organisations here in Africa and abroad while the rest 60% would be for me Thereafter, I will visit your country for disbursement according to the percentage indicated Therefore, to enable the immediate release of thisconsignment to you arranged, you must apply first to the company as the relation or next of kin of the deceased indicating your complete information, namely complete name, postal address, occupation,date of birth,your private telephone and fax number for easy and effective communication and location where in the consignment will be release to. Upon receipt of your reply, I will send to you by fax or email the text of the  Application you will send to the company to seek the release of the consignment
 
to you . I will not fail to bring to your notice that this transaction is hitch-free and that you should not entertain any atom of fear as all required Arrangements have been made for the transfer. You should contact me immediately as soon as you receive this letter.Trusting to hear from you
 
immediately for more detailed discussion.
Yours Faithfully,
Mr.David Williams.
 


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