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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. Stephen K. Green" <sk_green17@hotmail.co.uk>
Reply-To: skgreenhsbc011@myway.com
Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2006 07:53:43 +0000
Subject: IT IS MY PLEASURE TO WRITE YOU.

 
 
Dear Sir,
 
I am Mr. Stephen K. Green, Group Chairman, HSBC Bank Group.
It is my pleasure to write to you this day, following an opportunity in my office that will be of immense benefit to both of us, I came across your email address, through surfing the Internet, this is based on Trust and Confidence, and you are entitled to Accept or Reject it.
 
This is regarding a devastating event on the crash of Alaska Airlines flight 261, Friends and families were lost in this devastated incident, especially our foreign customer Late Mr. Morris Thompson, an Alaskan who unfortunately lost his life in the plane crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 which crashed on January 31st 2000, including His Wife and Only Daughter.
 
You shall read more about the crash on visiting this site, which I got during my investigation: -
 
 
In my department I discovered an abandoned sum of US$45M (Forty Five Million United States Dollar) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer (Late Mr. Morris Thompson), who unfortunately lost his life in the plane crash.
 
Since I got information about his death, I have been expecting his Next of Kin or close Relatives to come over and claim his money because the bank cannot release it unless someone applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in the banking guidelines. Unfortunately I learnt that his supposed next of kin being his only daughter died along with him in the plane crash leaving nobody with the knowledge of this fund behind for the claim, hence I could not find his Next of Kin or close Relatives to come over and claim his money, I now present you as the Next of Kin or close Relatives, to the deceased as indicated in the banking guidelines.
 
This sum of US$45M (Forty Five Million United States Dollar) it has been abandoned in an escrow account with HSBC Bank Plcand this funds is not made known to anybody except me, and it has simply been forgotten, this funds will be beneficial if we can work together and have this transfer it to your account, as the legal owner of this funds,
 
After 7 years of dormancy any such accounts holding funds of certain magnitudes will be re-directed to the bank treasury as unclaimed funds and will be shared among the bank Share-Holders, after that the file will be closed. This is what I am trying to prevent from happening. I will rather see the whole money go directly to Charity Organization with a help of a foreigner, If you share the same ideology as myself, please do not hesitate to contact me.
 
However, it may interest you to know that we have secured from probate and order of mandamus to locate any of the deceased surviving next-of-kin. Upon this discovery, I now seek your permission to have you stand as a next-of-kin to the deceased.
 
This business is an urgent task, if you are interested and you find the capabilities to transact this business with me, please quickly call me on my handi phone number:
+44 2070601137, +44 703 194 7360 or send me an urgent message on
 
Note:   I am aware of the various similar propositions mail proposal flying about on the Internet and I must confess that I was reluctant to take up this task, but having carried out my investigations and confirm it true, I can confidently tell you that this is not scam.
 
I look forward to hearing from you, and hope we have a mutual business partnership.
 
Sincerely,
Mr. Stephen K. Green, Group Chairman, HSBC Group.


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