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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.Matt Ollivier <olliviermat@aol.com>
Reply-To: mattpollivier@aol.com
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 08:48:09 +0200
Subject: Immediate attention


Matt Ollivier
Fax : +33 821 915 603
e-mail : mattphilollivier@aol.fr

Dear Sir,

I have picked-up courage and trust to forward this letter with divine =
confidence that you are a reliable and honest person who will be capable to =
handle this important business proposal believing also that you will never =
let me down either now or in the future. I am Matt Ollivier a foreign private =
audit consultant with the Societe Generale Bank in France. There is an =
account opened in this bank in 1997 and since 2003 nobody has operated on =
this account it has been dormant thereafter.

After going through records, I discovered that if I do not remit this money =
out urgently it would be forfeited to the government as an unserviceable / =
dormant account. The owner of this account was late Dr. Nordeen Hamdeen =
Bualazeez El Halaab, a foreigner, he was an associate miner at Kruger Gold =
Company, a geologist by profession, and he died 2003 in a plane crash. No one =
is believed to have any knowledge of details of this bank account since it =
remained dormant after his death.

>From my findings during auditing at the end of last fiscal year, the deceased =
did not leave a will and no indication of a next of kin and as such has no =
beneficiary and my investigation proved to me last employers' does not have =
knowledge of this account which is total sum of nineteen million, three =
hundred and fifty thousand United States dollars.

I wish to transfer this fund into a safe foreign account abroad. I am =
contacting you based on the fact that you are a foreigner because the claim =
of this fund will only be approved for payment to a foreigner. I know that =
this proposal will come to you as a surprise as we don't have fore knowledge =
of each other. I therefore implore that you treat this as important as can be =
to enable us achieve the claim of the funds.

However, I got your contact from a trade consultant here in France, though I =
did not disclose the purpose of my seeking for a foreign business partner to =
the consultant. I have involved a very senior official in the remittance =
department of my establishment, and we have agreed that after the transfer of =
the fund into your designated bank account, you shall be entitled to 30% of =
the total sum, my colleagues and I will have 60% while 10% will be used to =
reimburse all expenses incurred by all parties during the transaction.

All necessary precautions have been taken to ensure a risk free situation on =
the side of both parties. Please note that this deal can only take place on =
the following conditions:

1. You will provide the bank account and other relevant particulars =
information for easy and onward Remittance of the funds.

2. Absolute confidentiality and sincerity will be required and guaranteed, =
considering our positions in the bank.
3. Assurance that our share of 60% will be released to us in good faith when =
this funds finally gets into your nominated bank account.

>From my estimates, this transaction will be within 10 working days as soon as =
we hear from you. Please treat with utmost confidentiality.

Expecting your immediate response.

Yours faithfully,

Mr. Matt Ollivier.

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