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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:
Reply-To: johnobi@indiatimes.com
Date:
Subject: DEAR FRIEND

SUBJECT: SEEKING FOR PARTNERSHIP FOR INHERITANCE FUND CLAIM OF $12.5MUS=
D=20

Dear Friend=20

My name is Mr. John Obi; i am a staff of Citibank NA, Lagos Nigeria in=20
Africa with our head office in New York, USA. i work in the operations =
dept=20
where i serve as account officer to numerous customers i have urgent an=
d=20
very confidential business proposition for you. on Sept 2001,an America=
n=20
foreign oil consultant/contractor with the Nigerian national petroleum=20
corporation, late Mr. (john shumejda) made a numbered time (fixed) depo=
sit=20
for twelve calendar months, valued at us$12,500,000.00, (twelve million=
,=20
five hundred thousand dollars) in my branch. Upon maturity, my boss sen=
t a=20
routine notification to his forwarding address but got no reply.=20

After a month, we sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his=20
contract employers, the Nigerian national petroleum corporation (NNPC) =
that=20
late Mr. (john shumejda) an American had unfortunately lost his life in=
the=20
plane crash. You shall read more about the crash on visiting this site.=
=20
http://edition.cnn.com/2002/world/europe/01/04/england.plane/
since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his ne=
xt of=20
kin or relatives to come over and claim his money because we cannot rel=
ease=20
it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the dec=
eased=20
as indicated in our banking guidelines.=20

Unfortunately he left nobody as his next of kin with the knowledge of t=
his=20
fund behind for the claim. it is therefore upon this discovery that i a=
nd=20
two other officials in this department now decided to make business wit=
h you=20
and release the money to you as the next of kin or beneficiary of the f=
unds=20
for safety keeping and
Subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and we don=92t wa=
nt this=20
money to go back into government treasury as unclaimed bill.=20

The banking law and guidelines here stipulates that such money remained=
=20
after eight years; the money will be transferred into banking treasury =
as=20
unclaimed funds. we have jointly agreed that 30% of this money will be =
for=20
you as foreign partner, 10% for charity and while the balance will be f=
or my=20
colleagues and me. i will visit your country for the disbursement accor=
ding=20
to the percentages indicated above once this money gets into your accou=
nt.=20
This percentage-sharing ratio will be drafted and sealed with an agreem=
ent=20
letter on black and white that will bind both of us and guarantee our=20
shares.
=46inally, if you are interested in this deal, quickly reply me back on=
this=20
email: johnobi@indiatimes.com with your full names, address, complete=20
banking details as it will appear in the claims documents to the bank a=
nd=20
your direct telephone number for oral communication.=20

Above all, please handle this deal with maturity and absolute=20
confidentiality.
Thanks and God bless you for being our partner.
Regards,
Mr. John Obi=20


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