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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: "Craig Hefley" <craig.hefley18@mail.mn>
Reply-To: craighefley_esq@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:11:31 -0700
Subject: FUND TRANSFER OPPORTUNITY WITH YOU,


Barr. Craig Hefley,
Station House 17 Saxon Road ,
Southampton SO17 2ET , United Kingdom, UK

Dear Sir/Madam,

This is a personal email directed to you and I request that it be treated
in confidence. I Craig Hefley, a solicitor at law living in the United
Kingdom and working in the law firm of Kevin Dixon & Associates
in Southampton, U.K.

I was the personal attorney to the late Alfred D. Allen, a Canadian citizen,
who until his death in the year 2002, was a private investor. However he
died with his wife in a car crash on the 4th of October in the year 2002.
Prior to his death, I was in charge of his stock and capital investments
which stood at a value of 7.6 million GBP at his death. This is an
equivalent of US$15 million. I have documents relating to these deposits
with HSBC London, still in my possession to date.

Since the death of my client, I have written several letters to the embassy
with an intent to locate any of his extended relatives who shall be
claimants/beneficiaries to his abandoned personal estate and all such
efforts have been to no avail. More so, I have received official letters in
the
last few weeks suggesting a likely proceeding for confiscation of his
abandoned personal assets in line with existing laws by the bank in which
my client deposited a total of 7.6 million GBP (about US$15 million).

Not wanting his assets conceded to government authorities here, I am writing
to have your consent in presenting your personal details to my late
client's
bank as a surviving family member so as to enable me put up a claim on your
behalf and file for the release of the total amount to you. This way, you
and
I shall disburse the funds as we may deem appropriate for each person based
on mutual agreement.

Should it be necessary, we would have to enter into a written agreement to
protect the interest of both paries but I need to hear from you first to
know if
you are interested in working with me. My partner, Kevin James Dixon is not
aware of this claim as we work on independent basis. therefore, I would
prefer
that you respond by e-mail first and then I shall forward a confidential and
personal phone number by which you may reach me for further discussion on
this subject.

Finally, should you wish to embark on this project with me, I would suggest
that
you keep the entire plan discreet in order to guarantee its success. We
shall be
relying on the legal documents which I shall put forward to secure these
funds
and there must not be a contradiction of any sort. This can only be averted
if you
keep silent over this plan. Thanks for your understanding while I look
forward to a
response at your earliest convenience. i have contacted you alone for this
project
and I shall wait till I hear from you before I may make any further move
should it
be necessary to do so.

Please reply to me with this E-mail address:- esq_craighefley@yahoo.com.hk,
for us to start up the processing.

Kind regards,
Craig Hefley Esq.

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