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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: " Tan Zheng" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <tanzhengchamber@sify.com>
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:44:06 +0800
Subject: URGENT ATTENTION.

Attn.

My proposition to you is to seek your consent, A deceased client of
mine,that shares the same last name as yours, who died as the result of
heart-related conditionin March 12th 2007. His heart condition was due
to the death of all the members of his family in the tsunami disaster
on the 26th December 2004 in Sumatra Indonesia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake.

I have contacted you to assist in distributing the money left behind by
my client before it is confiscated or declared unserviceable by the
bank where this deposit valued at Nineteen million dollars
(US$19million dollars) is lodged. This bank has issued me a notice to
contact the next of kin, or the account will be confiscated.

I will like you to acknowledge the receipt of this e-mail as soon as
possible via my private EMAIL -:tanzhengchamber@sify.com
Best regards,
Tan Zheng
Attorney at Law
Email:-tanzhengchamber@sify.com

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