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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: "infor" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <willmarsh22@aim.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2010 07:51:39 -0700
Subject: From Mr,Marshall Williams

I apologize if the contents hereunder are contrary to your moral ethics, but please treat it with absolute secrecy and personal courtesy. I am Mr Marshall Williams an Auditor with a bank here in Madrid, Spain. In the process of auditing our bank accounts for the first quarter of the year, I recently discovered that there was a dormant account valued US$9,500,000:00.
After due verification of this account I discovered that the account owner is late. That is why the account has been dormant and as such the funds are lying unclaimed in the bank.

In view of this, I am seeking for your co-operation and understanding to stand as the next of kin to our deceased customer, to enable us claim the fund from my bank. Hence, if this proposal is OK by you and you do not wish to take undue advantage of my trust. Please kindly get back to me immediately, strictly via my private email address
only : willmarsh22@aim.com, to enable me enlighten you on how we are to proceed.

Be rest assured that this business is 100% risk free

I await for your prompt response.

Best Regards,

Mr,Marshall Williams

NB: PLEASE NOTE THAT IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU ARE NOT RELATED TO MY LATE CLIENT OR NOT; THE FUND WILL STILL BE PAID TO YOU, SINCE I AM PRESENTING YOU AS HIS NEXT OF KIN.

Anti-fraud resources: