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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: DISTRIBUCTION OF FUNDS TO ORPHANAGE HOMES <inforval_inforval2@virgilio.it>
Reply-To: perezbinyamin@aim.com
Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:10:59 +0100 (GMT+01:00)
Subject: Re: FUNDS FOR CHARITY WORKS (AWAITING YOUR RESPONSE)


Dear Kind-Hearted Reciepient,

Greetings to you and Please permit me to
introduce myself. I am Mr. Binyamin Perez an Israeli National and a
crude oil Merchant before I was diagnosed with esophageal cancer which
has defied all medical solutions and according to medical experts I
only have a few more months to live.
As you read this you do not have
to feel sorry for me as it is a universal truth that we all must die
someday, the only problem with mine though being that I have
particularly not lived my life well in spite of my wealth and
possessions as I never really cared for anyone (not even myself) but my
business.

Though I was very rich I was never generous, I was never
caring about people but only dedicated my time and resources on my
business as that was the only thing I cared about. But now I regret all
this as I now know that there is more to life than just accumulating
all the wealth in the world as I lay helplessly on my sick bed. If I
was given a second chance to live again I sure would live my life a
different way from how I have lived it owing to what has befallen me
now. As my last days alive are drawing closer and closer I have already
willed out most of my properties and assets to my immediate and
extended family members as well as a few close friends.

I also want my
soul to be at peace with God and for him to be merciful on me and
accept my soul and to this regard I have resolved to give my remaining
funds to charity organizations as I want this to stand as one of the
last deeds I indulge in on earth before I die. Though I have already
distributed money to some charity organizations, Now that my health has
deteriorated so badly I can no longer continue with this myself and
also I do not trust my immediate family members or close friends on
this as I have once asked them to close one of my accounts and
distribute the funds therein to charity organizations in Bulgaria,Sri-
Lanka India and Pakistan they greedily kept the money to themselves.
Hence I am contacting you with this as I have lost confidence in them
because it is obvious they are not contended with what I have left for
them.

The last of my funds which no one knows of is a cash deposit of
Eighteen million U.S Dollars (18Mn USD) with a bank in Europe. All I
am asking of you is to allow me make you the beneficiary to take over
control of this cash deposit and dispatching the funds to any charity
of your choice after keeping 30% of the funds for yourself and your
family.10% of these funds should be to cover any expenses that might be
incurred in the process of making this claims.

Please contact me as
soon as you get this email if you are capable and sincere to handle
this transaction on my behalf so I can forward you with all relevant
documents necessary for the claims and the name of the security firm
where the funds are deposited.
God bless you as I await words from you.
Please inform as soon as possible
if you are not interested so I can
proceed to seek for someone else to carry out this on my behalf. Find
attached a picture of me along with this email for your perusal.

Please respond to me on this email address if you are willing to assist
me,
perezbinyamin@aim.com

May God Bless You.

Mr. Binyamin Perez

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