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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: joe boateng <jb1100@virgilio.it>
Reply-To: boatng101@walla.com
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 15:06:30 +0100 (GMT+01:00)
Subject: let me hear from you URGENTLY.

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. Robert Wilson, 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 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
http://edition.cnn.
com/2002/WORLD/europe/01/04/england.plane/
for details on the crash.
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 the bank
manager
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 URGENTLY.
Warm Regards,
Mr. Joe
Boateng


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