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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: "Mr.Idrissa Diop" <idddiop@mixmail.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: mridrissadiop5@mixmail.com
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000 00:56:15 -0100
Subject: Asking for your Urgent response

Dear Friend,

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 Mr. Idrissa Diop 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 unclaimed after Six (6) 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. Please do call me on my
direct line for more clearifications: 00221 688 8466

Thanks and best regards.

Yours faithfully,
Mr. Idrissa Diop
Telephone: 00221 688 8466



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