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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: "abu mohammed" <abu_mohammed0014@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: abu_mohammed2009@yahoo.ca
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 17:40:42 +0000
Subject: With Due Respect

FROM THE DESK OF MR ABU MOHAMMED.
BILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGER,
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK(ADB)
OUAGADOUGOU,BURKINA FASO.WEST AFRICA.

With Due Respect

I am the manager of bill and exchange at the foreign remittance department
of african development bank (ADB)I crave yoaur indulgence as i contact you
in such a surprising manner.But I respectfully insist you read this letter
carefully as I am optimistic it will open doors for unimaginable financial
rewards for both of us. In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of
Ten Million Five Hundred Thousand US dollars (US$10.5m)only,in an account
that belongs to one of our foreign customer who died along with his entire
family in November 2001 in a plan crash,

Since we got information about his death, 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 as
indicated in our banking guidelines but unfortunately we learnt that all his
supposed next of kin or relation died along with him at the plan crash
leaving nobody behind for the claim.

It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this business
proposal to you so that the money could be released to you as the next of
kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since
nobody is coming for it and i dont want this money to go into the bank
treasury as unclaimed Bill. The Banking law and guideline here stipulates
that if such money remained unclaimed after five years, the money will be
transferred into the Bank treasury as "unclaimed fund". The request for a
foreigner as next of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the
customer was a foreigner and a Burkinabe cannot stand as next of kin to a
foreigner, We agree that 30% of this money will be for you as a foreign
partner, in respect to the provision of a foreign account , 10% will be set
aside for expenses incurred during the business and 60% would be for me.

There after I will visit your country for disbursement according to the
percentages indicated. Therefore to enable the immediate transfer of this
fund to you as arranged, you must apply first to the bank as relation or
next of kin of the deceased indicating your bank name,your bank account
number, your private telephone and fax number for easy and effective
communication and location wherein the money will be remitted. Upon receipt
of your reply,I will send to you by fax or email the text of the
application.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.

Yours faithfully,
abu mohammed,
Bill and exchange manager,
African Development bank ADB

_________________________________________________________________
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