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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: Smith White <smith_white@sify.com>
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2010 09:03:20 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: I do not know whether this is your correct email address or not



Dear Friend,
I have been searching for your contact since you left our country
some years ago .I do not know whether this is your correct email address or not
because I only used your name initials to search for your contact in the
internet .In case you are not the person I am supposed to contact , please see
this as a confidential message and do not reveal it to another person but if you
are not the intended receiver, do let me know whether you can be of assistance
regarding my proposal below because it is top secret.

I am still working
with the Bank , but am about to retire from active Bank service to start a new
life but I am sceptical to reveal this particular secret to a stranger .You must
assure me that everything will be handled confidentially because we are not
going to suffer again in life.

It has been 10 years now that most of the
greedy African Politicians used our bank to Launder money to overseas through
the help of their Political advisers. Most of the funds which they transferred
out of the shores of Africa was gold and oil money that was supposed to have
been used to develop the continent. Their Political advisers always inflated the
amounts before transfer to foreign accounts so I also used the opportunity to
divert part of the funds hence I am aware that there is no official trace of how
much was transferred as all the accounts used for such transfers were being
closed after transfer.

I acted as the Bank Officer to most of the
politicians and when I discovered that they were using me to succeed in their
greedy act, I also cleaned some of their banking records from the Bank files and
no one cared to ask me because the money was too much for them to control. They
laundered over $150m during the process .As I am sending this message to you, I
was able to divert more than ($15m) to an escrow account belonging to no one in
the bank. The bank is anxious now to know who is the beneficiary to the funds
because they have made a lot of profits with the funds.It is more than ten years
now and most of the politicians are no longer using our bank to transfer funds
overseas.

The $15M has been lying waste but I don't want to retire from
the bank without transferring the funds to a foreign account to enable me share
the proceeds with the receiver. The money will be shared 60% for me and 40% for
you .

There is no one coming to ask you about the funds because I
secured everything.I only want you to assist me by providing a viable bank
account where the funds can be transferred. You are not to face any difficulties
or legal implications as I am going to handle the transfer personally. If you
are capable of receiving the funds, do let me know by replying me
immediately with this email address smith_white@sify.com  to enable me give you
detailed information on what to do.

For me, I have not stolen the money
from anyone because the other people that took the whole money did not face any
problems. This is my chance also to grab my own but you must keep the details of
the funds secret to avoid leakages as no one in the bank knows about the
funds.

Please supply me the following:
Your current contact address
and Telephone Numbers. Whether you will be able to come down again to my country
to meet me before the commencement of the transfer.
I shall intimate you on what to do when I get your confirmation
and acceptance. If you are capable of being my trusted associate, do declare
your consent to me.
Waiting for your urgent response.
Yours
Faithfully,
Mr Smith



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