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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: HANK SMITH <bbkevink@live.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:47:15 -0400
Subject: From Mr. Hank Smith

Dear Friend,

I know this message will appear to you as a surprise but before i proceed, My name is Mr. Hank Smith from UK and I work with CITIBANK INTERNATIONAL PLC. LONDON BRANCH as the the auditing manager and I am contacting you via email from my office that will be of an immense benefit to both of us. In my department, I discovered an abandoned sum of ($16.5 million) Sixteen million five hundred thousand USA Dollars in an account that belongs to one of our deceased foreign customer Late Mr. Denis Cook an American citizen who unfortunately lost his life in the accident of Osama Bin Laden Bombing of World Trade centre on the 11th of September 2001 and The choice of contacting you is aroused from the geographical nature of where you live particularly due to the sensitivity of the transaction and the confidentiality herein. This bank has been waiting for any of the relatives or next of kin to come-up for the claim but nobody has done that and I personally has been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for 2 years now and with all the indications and information's there is no one to claim this fund and my bank has decided to transfer the fund into the bank unclaimed account for the bank use if no one is presented to them by me as the beneficiary and i don't want that to happen because this is a golden opportunity that comes once in  a life time and i want us to grab it which is the major reason i am contacting you to seek your consent to present you as the next of kin /Will Beneficiary of the fund so that the proceeds of this account valued at 16.5 Million Dollars can be paid to you for our mutual benefit.

At the conclusion of this transfer The fund will be disbursed or shared in these percentages, 60% to me and 40% to you . I have secured all necessary legal documents and vital informations that can be used to back up this claim we are making. All i need is to fill in your names to the ducuments and legalise it in the court here to prove you as the legitimate beneficiary. All I need now is your understanding,honesty,Co-operation, Confidentiality and Trust to enable us see this transaction through. I guarantee you that this will be executed under a legitimate  arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. So you are required to provide me the following items below so that we can proceed with the process of the transfer as we have 5 working days to get this fund transferred into any of your account. This is very very URGENT PLEASE.

1. Full Name
2. Your Telephone Number
3. Your Contact Address.

I decided to contact you hoping that you will find this proposal interesting. Please on your confirmation of this message and indicating your interest kindly send the required contact information as stated above to enable me proceed with the process. Endeavor to let me know your decision rather than to keep me waiting.

Awaiting your urgent response Immediately you read my message.

Regards,
Mr. Hank Smith

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