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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: PATRICK UTOMI <patrickutomi031@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <patrickutomi@myway.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:46:16 +0100
Subject: TREAT AS URGENT MESSAGE



Good day,
Greetings:
I am sorry to intrude into your private and peaceful life, all the same My name is Mr. Patrick Utomi, I work as an accountant in a bank; I contacted you to work together with me in claiming my late client's estate. Unfortunately he died without a registered next of kin and as such the funds now have an open beneficiary status.
You could be made the beneficiary since you share the same last name with him. This has officially transferred the right to you, as no other person from his family knows anything about this fund with our bank.If you are interested in working with me, please get back to me as quickly as possible, so that I give you the details of what we are to do.
I wait for your prompt response so that I can give you more briefing of what you need to and how to do it.
Thanks for your co-operation.Regards.Mr. Patrick Utomi.
_________________________________________________________________
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