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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: "P.I" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <puii@mail.kz>
Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 14:15:29 +0530
Subject: Regarding Your Family Member!!!

Hello,

I have taken pains to find your contact through personal endeavors which I may
explain to you upon your response. I work as an international auditor for a reputable Bank (SNS) Asset Liability Managerial department monitoring five branches including Singapore, Belgium and Netherlands.
A possible family member of yours (name withheld for security reason) died
years ago leaving behind an investment totaling a very tidy sum with my bank. With interest at today’s value, the said investment has grown considerably.
His lawyer has notified my department of the death of the said
investor in an air crash and the lawyer has also asked us to check through our records to see who his client may have indicated as next of kin to the investment, since the fiancee who was indicated in his WILL as beneficiary to most of his properties also died in the same air crash.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/502503.stm

Findings and verification as auditor in the bank has led me to realize that the
investor has also named his fiancee as next of kin to the investment. We have as yet not informed anyone of this because of the implications, the investor’s lawyer will obviously handover his properties including the investment capital to the government which will in turn be shared amongst undeserving government officials. However, because of the relevance of the sameness of your surname and you being a possible relative to the late investor, i am making you this proposal since I can provide you with much needed information to claim the investment cash.

You are guaranteed that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement
that will protect you from any breach of the law, as the funds did not originate from terrorism or drugs, but through inheritance. So the transaction is legitimate.

But however if you find this great mutual benefitting proposal against your moral ethics,do me the favour of discarding this email quietly because of my reputation and present status at the bank.

Please kindly reply to confirm,

Your full name:
Telephone:
Fax number:
Occupation:
Address:

to enable me discuss and facilitate all due process regarding this transaction and thus the bank can transfer the money to you.

Yours truly,
Ilias .P,
Auditor-SNS BANK
Overseas Operations.
A Member: SNS INTERNATIONAL GROUP
www.snsbank.nl

Anti-fraud resources: