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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: "nhtr yt8" <nhtr_yt8@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: tanor_dg24@myway.com
Date: Fri, 02 Dec 2005 23:57:45 +0000
Subject: UR URGENT REPLY NEEDED

DEAR SIR/MADAM,

First, I must apologise to you for using this medium to communicate about
this transaction, though it is my great pleasure in writing you this letter
on behalf of my colleague and myself. I am Dr. Tanor Dieng, the Director of
Bill and Exchange at the Foreign Remittance Department in the bank where I
work. I am writing to you this urgent proposal following the impressive
information about you through one of my friends who runs a consultancy firm.
Though, I did not disclose to him the nature of my proposal to you to avoid
any leakage. My colleague and I have decided to contact you on a business
transaction that will be very beneficial to both of us at the end. I would
be brief and direct to ensure you understand everything properly.

In my department we discovered an abandoned Sum of $13.7M USD ( Thirteen
Million, Seven Hundred Thousand US Dollars), in an account that belongs to
one of our foreign customers, an American by name: Mr. John Schelpert who
died along with his wife and other passengers in EgyptAir Flight 990 -
October 31, 1999. Since we got information about his untimely death, the
fund has been dormant in his account with my Bank without any claim, we have
been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we
cannot release it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation
to the deceased and the person must be a foreigner as indicated in our
banking guidelines.

Before our observation in this development, we discovered that the owner of
the account died without a Heir/WILL hence the money is floating and if I do
not remit this money out urgently it will be forfeited for nothing. The
Banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money remained
unclamed after five years, the money will be transfered into the Bank
treasury account as unclaimed fund. It is therefore upon this discovery that
I and my junior colleague in the bank now decided to make this businness
proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relation
to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is
coming for it and we do not want this money to go into the Bank treasury as
unclaimed Bill.

Meanwhile the whole arrangement to put claim over these fund as the bonafide
next of kin to the deceased and transfer this money to a foreign account has
been put in place. Directives and needed information will be relayed to you
as soon as you indicate your interest and willingness to assist us and also
benefit from this great business opportunity. We could have done this deal
on our own, but because of our position in this country operating a local
account would eventually raise an eye brow on my side during the time of
transfer because I work in this bank.

This is the actual reason why it will require foreigner as second party that
will forward claims as the next of kin to the Bank and also present a
designated safe foreign account where he will need the money to be
transferred into after due verification and clearification by the bank. May
I at this point emphasize that this transaction is a successful arrangement,
and as an insider of the bank I have the capacity to monitor that everything
is smoothly perfected. On smooth conclusion of this transaction, you will be
entitled to your own share of the total sum as gratification. We have agreed
that 20 % of this money will be for you as our foreign partner, in respect
to the provision of a foreign account, 5% will be set aside for expenses
incured during the business and 75% would be for me and my colleague. There
after I and my colleague will visit your country for disbursement according
to the percentages indicated.

This share of yours is negotiable as long as it is reasonable. Please, you
have been adviced to keep this information a top secret as we are still in
service and intend to retire from service after we conclude this deal with
you. I will be monitoring the whole situation here in this bank until you
confirm the money in your account and ask us to come down to your country
for subsequent sharing of the fund according to percentages we shall agree
upon. All other necessary information will be sent to you on your acceptance
to champion this transaction with us. I suggest you get back to me as soon
as possible, stating your wish in this deal.

Thanks and best regards.

Yours faithfully,

Dr. Tanor Dieng


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