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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: Smith Macdonel <ssmmac3@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <pin78uk@mail.com>
Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2007 00:35:28 +0000
Subject: GOOD NEWS {CONFIDENTIAL}




Thanks for giving me your time. I am Carlley Macdonel,
a consulting auditor attached with a private Banking
Services in London - UK. I am contacting you
concerning a customer of our bank who had an
investment placed under the bank's management 3 years
ago valued at 14.2 Million United States Dollars which
he wished to have us turn over on his behalf.


In August 2004, he asked that the money be liquidated
because he needed to make an urgent investment
requiring cash payments. He directed that I liquidate
the funds and had it deposited with HANDELSBANKEN, a
top Swedish bank but due to the complexities of the
task he was asking of us, he later instructed the
transfer to be stopped and told me he would use the
money upon his arrival from the States. This was the
last communication we had since then. The bank has
launched an investigation to know his whereabout but
to no avail. In his bio-data form, he listed no next
of kin this is because in the field of private
banking, opening an account means no one will know of
its existence, accounts are rarely held under a name.
Depositors use numbers and codes to make the accounts
anonymous.


As things stands now, there is 18.5 Million USD as
value for his investment and the bank has no single
idea of the history or nature of the deposit. They are
simply awaiting for instructions to release the
deposit to any party that comes forward. This bank has
spent great amount of money trying to track the man's
family and have investigated for months but found no
known relative. After going through your profile, I
decided to contact and place you in a position and
instruct the bank to release the deposit to you as the
closest relation. Upon receipt of the deposit, I am
prepared to share the money with you and no more. That
is, we share the proceeds 85% for me and 15% for you.
All the expenses to ensure a smooth and successful
transfer of the fund to your account will come from my
side. I only need your full co-operation and to be
following my instructions strictly.


Get back to me with the following to enable us proceed
accordingly: (1) Your correct bank account information
for the transfer. (2) Your direct telephone numbers
where you can easily be reached to enable me contact
you for us to have a heart to heart conversation. (3)
I want you to assure me that you will never let me
down either now or in future.


Hope to hear from you.


Mr. Carlley Macdonel.
privatecm2007@myway.com
privatesm2006@hotmail.com



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