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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: francislim01@windowslive.com
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2010 08:38:34 -0500
Subject: Dear One

Dear One,

I am Barr.Francis Lim, a lawyer by profession. I am soliciting your
involvement in a deal that will be of great mutual benefits between us.

I have a late client (dead) who had the same surname (family name) as yours.
My late client used to work with Shell Oil Exploration Company here in
Malaysia, he was an influential wealthy businessman, Civil engineer and Gold
Magnet.

On the 21st of April 2004, my client, his wife and their only child were
involved in a car accident and later died of internal bleeding. All
passengers of the vehicle unfortunately lost their lives, (may their gentle
souls rest in peace) Amen. Since then, I have made several enquiries to
locate any of my client’s extended family relatives but have proved
unsuccessful. I came to know about you through an enquiry I was making in the
Internet, and I found out that you shared the same surname with my late
(dead) client.

Therefore, I am contacting you in order to assist in transferring the money
and property left behind by my client before they get confiscated or declared
unserviceable by the bank.

Your assistance is important and urgent because of the commercial banks where
my late client had a domiciliary account valued for Nine Million, Five
Hundred Thousand United States Dollars only (US$9,500,000.00) has already
issued me a notice to provide his Next of Kin or have the account confiscated
within the next 30 days.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 4 years
now, I hereby seek your consent to present you as the Next of Kin to my late
client since you have the same family (last name), so that the US
$9,500,000.00 can be paid to you for onward investment into any areas of
business you deem viable for a minimum period of 5 years to enable me
continue my search for his Next of Kin. Note that I shall prepare legal
documentations that will enable you have 40% of the total sum, which amount
to US$3,800,000.00. Be also assured that this deal is 100% risk free.

I guarantee that this transaction will be executed under a legitimate
arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. All I require
is your honest co-operation and utmost CONFIDENTIALITY to enable us see this
business through.Please, get in touch with me by telephone or fax to enable
us discuss further about the details of this transaction.Send your reponse to
my most private email address: francislim01@windowslive.com

Yours truly,
Barr. Francis Lim
Advocates & Solicitors

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