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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: "ATTORNEY HENRY LOPEZ"<attorneylopez@law.za>
Reply-To: <lopez.consult@yahoo.fr>
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2009 02:04:09 +0100
Subject: INHERITANCE

ATTORNEY: HENRY LOPEZ
SUNNYHILL,JOHANNESBURG
SOUTH AFRICA
TEL: 27 73 142 0400
INHERITANCE

My name is Attorney. Henry Lopez a legal practitioner and the personal Attorney to late Mr. Adams Kerry,a national of your country who died along with his wife and his Two sons in a ghastly motor accident along M1 express in August 13, 2005 .

My late client left behind a deposit of Ten Million, Two Hundred Thousand United States Dollars($10,200,000.00usd) in his domiciliary bank account in a bank here in South Africa.

After the death of my client ,his bankers contacted me as his Attorney to provide his next of kin who should inherit his fortune.

The bankers had planned to invoke the abandoned property decree of 1996 to confiscate the funds after the expiration of the period given to me.

At the point of exhaustiveness,fortunately, I came across your name , to my utmost amazement , you are nationals of the same country.

I seek your consent to present you as the Next of Kin to the Deceased since you are at an advantage as nationals from the same country, so that the proceeds of this Bank Account valued at $10.2 Million Dollars can be paid to you.

We shall both share the fund, 40% to me and 55% to you, while 5% should be for Expenses or Tax as your Government may require, I shall assemble all the necessary Legal Documents that will be used to back up our claim .

All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this deal through.

I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of law.
Please get in touch with me by telephone or email to enable us discuss further.

Best Regards

Henry Lopez

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