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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: David Haword <david_haword6@msn.com>
Reply-To: <paul_mba1@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2008 16:33:34 +0000
Subject: confidential information



Hello,
Please accept my sincere apologizes if my email does not meet your business or personal ethics. I will first introduce myself as Mr.Howard, a staff in the Private Clients Section of a well-known bank, here in London, England.
One of our accounts, with holding balance of £15,000,000 (Fifteen Million Pounds Sterling) has been dormant and last operated four years ago. From my investigations and confirmation, the owner of the said account, a foreigner by name John Shumejda died on the 4th of January 2002 in a plane crash in Birmingham; for details on the crash you can view this CNN website http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/01/04/england.plane/
Since then, nobody has done anything as regards the claiming of this money, as he has no family member that has any knowledge as to the existence of either the account or the funds; and also Information from the National Immigration also states that he was single on entry into the UK.
I have confidently discussed this issue with some of the bank officials and we have agreed to find a reliable foreign partner to deal with. We therefore propose to do business with you, standing in as the next of kin of these funds from the deceased and funds released to you after necessary processes have been followed.
This transaction is totally free of risk and troubles as the fund is legitimate and does not originate from drug, money laundry, terrorism or any other illegal act.
On your interest, let me hear from you.
Warm Regards,
Mr. Howard.
DISCLAIMER:This message contains confidential information and is intended only for specified addressee. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. Please note that we reserve the right to monitor and read any emails sent and received under the telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000.

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