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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: "David Wilson" <dwilson@inMail24.com>
Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2006 14:42:10 +0400
Subject: For Your Perusal

I am contacting you concerning a deceased customer, and an investment he
placed under our banks management 2 years ago.

The client, now deceased made a deposit of 16 m British pounds. I was
assigned to manage this account and turn over same over various investments.
I followed his instructions and invested his funds in high yield areas and
have been monitoring the investment. At Maturity of the investment, I made
attempts to reach him and get his go ahead to turn over the investments but
got no response.

I made intense but futile efforts to locate him. I consequently passed the
task of locating him to the internal investigations department which soon
confirmed that my client had passed on. A person who suited his description
was declared dead of a heart attack in Cannes, South of France. The bank
immediately launched an investigation into possible surviving next of kin to
come forward to claim his estate. If you are familiar with private banking
affairs, those who patronize our services usually prefer anonymity, but also
some levels of detachment from conventional processes. In his bio-data form,
he listed no next of kin.

In the field of private banking, opening an account with us means no one
will know of its existence, accounts are rarely held under a name;
depositors use numbers and codes to make the accounts anonymous. This bank
even gives the choice to depositors of having their mail sent to them or
held at the bank itself, ensuring that there are no traces of the account
and as I said, rarely do they nominate next of kin. Private banking clients
apart from not nominating next of kin also usually in most cases leave wills
in our care, in this case; our now deceased client died without leaving a
will. We immediately instituted our own investigations in good faith to
determine who should have right to claim the estate. This investigation has
for the past months been unfruitful.

We have scanned every continent and used our private investigation
affiliate companies to get to the root of the problem. It is this
investigation that resulted in my being furnished with your details as a
possible relative of the deceased. My official capacity dictates that I am
the only party to supervise the investigation and the only party to receive
the results of the investigation. It is quite clear now that our client died
with no known or identifiable family members. This leaves me as the only
person with the full picture of what the prevailing situation is in relation
to the deposit of the deceased client.

According to normal practice, by bank will by the end of this year
broadcast a request for statements of claim. Failing to receive viable
claims they will most probably revert the deposit to the Government.

I am prepared to put you forward as next of kin and approve same with a
view to release the deposit to you as the closest surviving relation. Upon
receipt of the deposit, I am prepared to share the money with you in the
ratio of 70/30 in my favor.

This will not be too difficult, counting on the fact that I will be on hand
to guarantee the funds are released to you, using my official position. This
can be done with your cooperation in a few working days.

At your request, I will provide further information. It is of paramount
importance that you do not contact me via the bank mailing system or
switchboard telephones about this project as all official lines are
periodically monitored to assess our level of customer care in line with our
total Quality Management Policy. I will therefore be inclined to feign
ignorance if this happens.

Do contact me ONLY on my fax 44-709-287-4484 or on my personal e-mail

Sincerely,

David Wilson




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