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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: "MIKE ELLIS" <ellismike16@ig.com.br>
Reply-To: mike_ellis99@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:02:46 +0200
Subject: business proposal


Dear ,

I wish to accost you with a request that would be of immense benefit to both
of us. Being the Financial Director of Halifax Bank of Scotland, United
Kingdom, it is possible that we may be attracted to make fortune out of my
customer situations, when we cannot help it, or left with no better option.

The issue I am presenting to you is a case of my customer Mr.John Hughes,
who was an Australian citizen and a Chemical Engineer by profession, he died
since 1996, before his death, he willed a fortune to his next-of-kin. It was
most unfortunate that he and his next-of-kin died on the same day in the
Sharja plane crash on Tuesday 10 February 1996 . I am now faced with
confusion of who to pass the fortune to.

According to the English law, the fortune is supposed to be bequeathed to
the government. However, I do not belong to that school of thought which
proposes that the fortune of a deceased be given to the government. After a
thorough investigation I discovered that Mr. John Hughes's has no other
beneficiary and my investigation also proves that his company does not know
anything about this account, the amount involved is thirty Million Pounds
Sterling (£30,000,000.00).

My purpose of contacting you is to seek your acting as the beneficiary of
the will, and lay claim the legacy of (£30,000,000.00) million pounds
sterling, which my unfortunate client bequeathed to his next-of-kin.
Everything will be left between you and I. The share would be 30% for you
and 70% for I. I would like to take a part of my share to care of the needy
and less privileged,as this is my primary objective. All I have to do is
amend all file to make you the beneficiary to the (£30,000,000.00) million
pounds sterling legacy.

Again, I feel that you may be apprehensive and consider this amount very
huge for you to defend. It does not matter, as there are documents to back
it up. I therefore appeal to you not to obsolete this request to anybody,
even if you decline my request. Until I am sure of your consent and full
cooperation. I would prefer that we maintain all correspondence by email and
phone call.

At this point I want to assure you that your true consent, full cooperation
and confidentiality are all that are required for us to take full advantage
of this opportunity.
I look forward to hear from you soon.
Yours truly,

Mike Ellis,
Financial Director,
Halifax Bank Of Scotland Plc.
Tel: +44 704 57 06187
Email: ellisfeet@yahoo.com

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