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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: "osuji benson" <dosujia4@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: mrbenson777@o2.pl
Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2006 02:01:56 +0100
Subject: hello

MR OSUJI  BENSON.
HEAD ACCOUNTS AND CLEARING UNIT,
PRIME TRUST BANK PLC,
LAGOS-NIGERIA.
Reply to :
mrbenson777@o2.pl

 
DEAR   FRIEND,
Please permit me to introduce myself,I am the HEAD OF ACCOUNTS AND CLEARING UNIT OF PRIME TRUST BANK plc. In december 2001 , one of our esteemed customers, MR. CHAVEZ BASSFORD, died in Lagos,Nigeria. Before the death of MR. CHAVEZ BASSFORD, he was an influential fishing  Magnate,who also owned the BASSFORD CONSTRUCTION COMPANY here in nigeria. His company has both current and savings accounts with my  Bank,Which i was his account officer.At the time of his death, he had $16.4Million in both accounts. When our Bank was notified of his death, we made efforts to contact his immediate next of kin through his
embassy in Victoria Island, Lagos.
 
The embassy later wrote to us ,informing us that all attempt on theirpart to contact any of his relatives was not successful.It was at thispoint,that we contacted the government of Nigeria through the Ministryof Finance, informing them about this problem. The government wrote tous back,directing our Bank to place LATE MR.CHAVEZ BASSFORD's funds in a suspense account pending when any of his relatives shows up to claim the money. However, we received instructions from the Nigerian Governmentinstructing my bank to disburse this fund to the next of kin to MR. CHAVEZ BASSFORD once any member of his family shows up. It was as a result of these directives from my government that i have contacted you to stand as the next of kin to MR.CHAVEZ BASSFORD, What i want to do,as the account officer to late BASSFORD ,is to present you or your company as the next of kin to MR.CHAVEZ BASSFORD which will entitle you to receive this money on his behalf for me and you, after we might have done the process  of documentation involved and with my position here,This will not be a problem for me to handle.

It will not be difficult for me to establish the relationship between
you and the late BASSFORD. You could be a distant relative to him,or
his uncle, Aunty from his mother's side.As soon as you confirm your
willingness to assist me, you shall be provided withall information
relating to the Late MR.CHAVEZ BASSFORD , as contained in our file.
You do not have to worry about this proposal, as i am directly
involved and as the account officer to the late MR.CHAVEZ BASSFORD,the
transfer will be carried out as soon as i hear from you and if you
can assure me that you will not by any means run away with the money when transfered to your country before i come over to you.

When we have successfully remitted the fund into your account, you
shall assist me invest my share into any profitable business in your
country for 2 years. After the successful completion of this
transaction,your share of the money will be 40% ,50% will be for me
,10% will go to any registered charity organization such as the
motherless babies home,in your country,please let me know if this
sharing pattern is fine with you,so that at the end,we shall be happy
after sharing.should you be willing to assist in this matter, kindly get back to me on the above email address,stating your telephone numbers along with any question you may need to ask about this transaction, i want to assure you of a hitch free transaction,as your involvement will not expose you to any risk now or after the successful completion of the transaction,as i will be involved as an insider as well and will handle the process correctly.

I thank you once more,please note that this should be kept secret
between you and me, while i look forward to your urgent response to
this letter, please send your reply to my private e-mail id:
mrbenson777@o2.pl
for confidentiality sake.please note that i expect you to keep this
proposal secret between me and you alone,i hope to hear from you
soonest,so that i can tell you what next to do.

Best regards,
OSUJI BENSON


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