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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: "mckillinganben@eparsnip.com" <mckillinganben@eparsnip.com> (may be fake)
Date: Sun, 6 May 2007 00:56:04 +0100
Subject: READ CAREFULLY...... URGENT RESPONSE

Attn: Sir/Madam

Permit me to introduce myself; my name is mckillingan Ben, a private financial
consultant manager. I happened to have managed accounts for Foreigners here in
the United Kingdom, in discharge of my duty; I stumbled on this domiciliary
account that has remained dormant for three years now with the sum of Twenty
One Million, Three Hundred And Twenty Thousand Dollars.

I contacted my director and we made enquiries and tried to contact the account
owner but discovered that the account holder has passed on. We then opened his
account file and also discovered that he did not declare any next of kin or
relations in all his official documents in the bank. I was then instructed to
find a relation to the deceased client, so that the proceedings of his account
with our Bank can be released to the family.

I have tried now for over four months to find one but to no avail. Our banking
policy states that, if an account holder with our Bank is decease in such a
situation with no beneficiary, the funds are confiscated after six months and
remitted to the Government.

I am writing you so that we can work together to remit the funds to you as the
next of kin because the funds belong to a foreigner and has to be claimed by a
foreigner as I would not want this magnitude of money to just go to the
Government. I guarantee this transaction under a legitimate arrangement that
will not breach the law by both parties; it’s a simple process which will
take a short while to process.

Upon receipt of your response l will send to you my private number so that you
can reach me for further discussion regarding this project

CONTACT PERSON: mckillingan Ben
.
EMAIL; mckillinganben16@yahoo.co.uk

Regards,
mckillingan Ben

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