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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: "Stephen Woh" <stevewoh1960@excite.com> (may be fake)
Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2007 15:14:17 +0800
Subject: Urgent response.

It may surprise you receiving this letter from me, since there was no previous correspondence between us. My name is Mr. Stephen Woh Malaysian national and head of accounts department (Alanz Bank Malaysia).

My purpose of contacting you is for you to help secure the funds left behind by a late customer, to avoid it being confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Bank. Where this fund valued ($US 3,600,000.00) Three Million Six Hundred Thousand United States Dollars deposited by the deceased before his death.

My Bank has been looking for the beneficiary/next of kin or the account will be declared unserviceable and the fund diverted to the Bank treasury, Hence, I have contacted you.

I am actually asking for your consent to present you to the Bank as the Next of Kin/ beneficiary of the deceased's fund, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to your account, then we can share the fund on a mutually agreed, based on percentage.

All the legal documentations to back up your claim as the deceased's Next of Kin I shall provide them. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us achieve this transaction.

The intended transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any infraction of the law.However, if this business proposition offends your moral ethics, do accept my sincere apology. If on the contrary you wish to achieve this goal with me kindly get back to me with your interest via this email address for further explanation.

Warmest Regards,

Mr. Stephen Woh


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