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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: Info <mikira@bonzai.adsl.dk>
Reply-To: mike2009ng@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:43:41 +0200
Subject: ***SPAM*** happy day


 Dear Friend.

It is indeed my pleasure to write you this letter, which I believe
will be a surprise to you as we have never met before, and I am deeply
sorry if I have in any manner disturbed your privacy.
Please forgive this unusual manner of contacting you, but this
particular letter is of exceptional and very private nature. There is
absolutely going to be a great doubt and distrust in your heart in
respect of this email, coupled with the fact that, so many individuals
have taken possession of the Internet to facilitate their nefarious
deeds, thereby making it extremely difficult for genuine and
legitimate business class persons to get attention and recognition.

My name is Mr. Mike Iragbor; I am Manager of a commercial bank. I
contacted you on a business Transfer that requires confidentiality,
Trust and transparency, where both of us have a lot to Benefit. During
our auditing Accounts section, I discovered a huge sum of money US$20M
deposited by ourlate customer, a foreigner who died On the 21st of
April 2000,the deceased,his wife and their two Children were involved
in a car accident in a remote village called Kuru near Jos in Plateau
State.

All occupants of the car unfortunately lost their lives. Since then I
have made several enquiries to his embassy here in Lagos-Nigeria to
locate any of his Extended relatives, this has also proved
unsuccessful to locate any member of his family. Now the management of
the bank has issued a notice to provide the next of kin to claim the
funds or they have the account frozen.
Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 6
years now, I contacted you to seek your consent to present you as the
next of kin to the deceased since you are a foreigner so that the
proceeds of this account valued at US$20,can be transfer to your
account that you would provided, then we can share the money 50%/ for
me and 50% for you because is a deal between me and you.

Finally, I have made an arrangement with an attorney who will work on
your behalf and secure all the necessary legal documentation that
would indicate you as the Beneficiary of the fund to back up this
claim, and this I must do to make sure that this fund is not wasted or
end up in the wrong hands.

All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us sees this deal
through and secures all the legal documents. I guarantee you that this
transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will
protect you and I from any breach of the law.

If you are interested in this deal, kindly get back to me with your
complete information, as follow.

Your private telephone and Fax numbers, your full name and address.

Best regards,

Mr. Mike Iragbor




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