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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: Adams Geroge <adamsg0098@msn.com>
Reply-To: <adamsge10@msn.com>
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2008 09:43:25 +0000
Subject: Urgent..........



UBS AGPostfach 8098 ZürichSwitzerlandSwiss Clearing Number: 230Postal Account: 80-2-2SWIFT: UBSW CH ZH 80AWeb site: www.ubs.com Dear Sir, I am an investment consultant working with Bank UBS AG Zurich at their offshore department Zurich Switzerland. I will be happy to work this deal out with you if you have a corporate or personal Bank Account and if you are capable to keep TOP SECRET. I need strong Assurance that you will never let me down, if I transfer this money to your account. During one of our periodic auditing I discovered a dormant accounts with holding balance of US$ 232,000.000.00 {Two hundred and Thirty Two million US Dollars only}. If you are not familiar with Swiss Dormant Accounts and profile, please take a moment of your very busy schedules to read about Swiss dormant accounts: website; http://www.crt-ii.org/2001_list/publication_list1_A.phtm If you know that you are capable to handle large or small amount on trust and can keep secret and ready to take 40% of any amount I transfer to your account from the dormant account and I will take 60%, send the following information by return mail: Beneficiary Bank name.........................?Bank address....................................?Account no.......................................?Swift code.......................................?Account name...................................?Beneficiary address............................?Your phone no...................................?Your Occupation.................................?Age....................................?Also needed, a Scan copy of your In't Passport/ID Card............? Tell me more about yourself, while I look forward to receive the above information. I want to re-assure you that this business is risk-free and you can send an empty account to receive the funds, provided that the account is capable to receive incoming funds. Thank you for your time and attention, I looked forward to receive your and your prompt reply to my E-mail address:adamsge10@msn.com) Warmest regards, Mr. Adams Geroge

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