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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: smith joe <smith_joe111@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2006 02:17:56 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: NEXT OF KIN I NEED U


Good day.
I am Barrister. Smith Joe, lawyer to late Mr.Morris Thompson who lost his life in plane crash involving Alaska Airline's Flight 261, which crashed on January 31st.2000, including his wife and only daughter. Mr. Morris Thompson aged 61 hailed from Fairbanks, Alaska in United States of America. He was one of the states's mostprominent native and business leader. All these you are very free to verify from the web link below for more information and clarification about his socio-economic status until his death;
http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/02/01/alaska.airlines.list/
Before the demise of my client, he disclosed to me his account status, which amounted to $10.5million (Ten million five hundred thousand america dollars). He also handed over to me some vitalcopies of documents regarding this fund already trapped at finance house in EUROPE.
I was at the last burial rights on February,5th,2000 to pay my final respect to Late Mr.Morris Thompson.There I made thorough inquiries about his relatives but,discovered no one relay knows about this fund currently sited at EUROPE.
Since then, I have made successive attempts to get his next of kin or relative to come forth and claim this fund but to no avail. As personal lawyer to my late client, I cannot in any way claim it unless someone overseas does so. Just two weeks ago, I received a routine notification from the finance house concerning this fund, and the officials of this firm issued a warning, stressing the urgency for late Mr. Morris Thompson's relative or next of kin to come forward to claim this fund immediately or they will have it confiscated and forwarded to the nation's treasury account as an unclaimed fund. This is the agreement they have reached at the company and they also reiterated that this is according to the comapny guidelines.
MY REQUEST;
Owing to the fact that his daughter whom should have stand a better chance of claiming this fund, also perished in that fatal air crash,I want you to stand in as the next of kin to late Mr. Morris Thompson.Like I earlier asserted,I have in my possession the necessary documents that will enable me to place you in,as the right beneficiary to my late client's fund in this firm.Be informed that upon successful transfer of this money into your account,you shall have 35% of it as your share. I must remind you that trust and transparency must be our watchword in the course of this transaction. I will discuss with you in details when I receive your response.
Please include the following in your reply.
(1.)Your Name in full.
(2.)A reliable phone and Fax number
(3.)Occupation
(4)contact address in full.
(5)Age
I look forward to receiving your reply soon.
Yours sincerelly,
Barrister Smith Joe.


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