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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: "Alessandro Carlo Geronimo" <andovale@paraisonet.com.br>
Reply-To: alessandro@grad.com
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:04:32 -0300
Subject: Business Proposal

June 17, 2008

Ciao Sir/Madam,

I take great pleasure in introducing myself, Mr. Alessandro Carlo Geronimo an accountant with Banca Di Roma, Milano, Italy. This letter is in reference to the death of our foreign Client, who died in the Cypriot airliner that crashed Aug. 14, 2005 near Athens with his family on board (All passengers were killed in the crash) and this letter is not intended to cause any embarrassment in whatever form, rather it is intended to contact your esteemed self, following the knowledge of your high repute and trustworthiness. More information on the crash can be found in the below website,

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/09/06/news/crash.php

Our client until his death deposited a sum of €15,800,000 Million Euro (Fifteen Million, Eight Hundred Thousand Euros) with us. Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come to our Bank and claim his money because we cannot release it unless somebody applies for it as a next of kin or relative to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines, but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed relatives died in the plane crash leaving no relative behind to claim the fund. It is upon this discovery that l decided to make this business proposal to you in other of the release of the money to you as the next of kin or relative to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement, since nobody is coming for it and we do not want this money to go into our bank treasury as an unclaimed fund.

The Banking Law and Guidelines here stipulate that if such money remained unclaimed after three years, the money will be transferred into the Bank Treasury as Unclaimed Funds. The request for a foreigner as a relative for this claim is occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and an Italian cannot claim this fund as next of kin. As an agreement 30% of this money will go to the foreign partner who will supply the foreign account, 5% will be set aside for expenses incurred during the transaction and 65% will be for me and my colleagues. Thereafter, l and my colleagues will visit your country for disbursement of the percentages as indicated above. If you are interested to assist in this transaction, kindly contact me immediately to proceed further. There is no risk involve at all, for I know that a proposal of this magnitude will make anyone apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you that it is made in good faith and will be of mutual benefit. I have everything arranged and planned, just please adhere to all instructions.

As a Senior Staff in the Bank I have access to reach information regarding Bank's Clients and Account Monitoring, I keep this information secret within myself and partners to enable the whole plans and idea be profitable and successful during the time of execution. I trust in you to keep this secret and confidential too. I will prepare a formal agreement to guide us in this transaction for accountability purpose. All other necessary vital information will be sent to you when I hear from you. I suggest you get back to me as soon as possible stating your wish in this deal. I look forward to your prompt response.

Yours Faithfully,

Alessandro Carlo Geronimo



















***************Confidentiality Notice***************
This message is intended for the sole use of the individual and entity to whom it is addressed, and may contain information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution of this email message, including any attachment, is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please advise the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. Thank you.

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