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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: "MRS JULLIET ADAMS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jullyadams@i12.com>
Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2010 03:59:23 +0100
Subject: STRICTLY PERSONAL/CONFIDENTIAL

My dear,
 
I am Mrs Juliet Adams, head, audit department of my bank. in Abuja, Nigeria, West Africa. I am contacting you on a
very urgent business transaction that would be beneficial to both families. This business offer is 100% risk free
but has to be handled with utmost confidentiality and secrecy. The reason is that I would not want my bank to
know that I spearheaded the transfer of the funds to a foreign account since I am still an employee of the bank.
In the course of our routine audit in the bank, my colleagues and I discovered that there is a dormant account
owned by an American national who died in a plane crash with the wife years back. At the quarterly meeting of
the board of directors of my bank, there was a preliminary discussion on how the funds should be transferred to
the bank treasury account because there has been no claims hitherto.  Consequent upon this, my colleagues and I
conceived the idea to contact a foreigner who would send in an application for claims to the funds as a business
partner to the late customer. We will give you all the necessary informations about the account so that you can
quickly send an application for claim to the funds. We will guide you with any information that may be required of
you from the management of the bank.
 
The total funds and accrued interest is 35 Million United States Dollars. Upon the successful transfer of the funds to your
nominated bank account, you shall be entitled to 30% of the total funds while the other 70% will be for us.
 
Please, if you are interested to work with us, respond to this mail as soon as possible so that we shall set up the necessary
machinery to actualize this objective.
 
Thanks and remain blessed.
Mrs Juliet Adams
 

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