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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <atmt02@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:37:49 +0000
Subject: From Mr. Michael O Higgins



From Mr. Michael O HigginsAddress: 65 Petty France,St James Park, London SW1H 9EU. Occupations: External Auditor

Good Day,
Please accept my sincere apologizes if my email does not meet your business or personal ethics. I will first introduce myself as Mr. Michael O Higgins, anAuditor with Bank of Scotland, here in London,England.

During our last Audit, I discovered that one of our accounts, with holding balance of £15,000,000 (Fifteen Million Pounds Sterling) has been dormant andlast operated three 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; you can view this CNN website for details on the crash.

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 thereforepropose 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 because this fund can be claim by a foreigner due to the deceased owner of the account is also, foreigner.

I want to assure you that, this transaction is totally free of risk and troubles as the fund is legitimate and does not originate from drug, moneylaundry, terrorism or any other illegal act.

At the successful conclusion of this business, you will be given 35% of the total amount as your share, 60% for me while the remaining 5% will be forexpenses.

On your interest, let me hear from you.
Warm Regards,
Mr. Michael O Higgins.


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