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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: "Timothy Tau" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <timothytau@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 17 May 2011 03:07:33 +0100
Subject: Attn

Attn:

This is a personal letter directed to you and I request that it should be treated as such. I am Timothy Tau, a solicitor at law. I am the personal attorney/sole executor to my late client, who died in a car crash with his immediate family on the 5th of Nov 2002. Since the death of my client in Nov, 2002, I have written several letters to the embassy with intent to locate any of his extended relatives whom shall be claimants/beneficiaries of his abandoned personal estate and all such efforts have been to no avail. More so, I have received official letters in the last few weeks suggesting a likely proceeding for confiscation of his abandoned personal assets in line with existing laws by the bank in which my client deposited the sum of £9.8m GBP. The board of directors of the company now adopted a resolution and I was mandated to provide his next of kin for the payment of this money within the next 25 official working days or forfeit the money as an abandoned fund.

The company had planned to invoke the abandoned property decree of 1996 to confiscate the funds after the expiration of the period given to me but after an investigation in the finance company, I found out that some members of the company wants to divert this fund into their private accounts for their own selfish interest and only want to use the excuse of my inability to look for a relative to achieve their goal. By virtue of my closeness to the deceased and his immediate family, I am very much aware of my client's financial standing and had thought it unprofitable for his funds to be submitted to the government of this country and the finance company where it is lodged. I have reasoned very professionally and I feel it will be legally proper to present you as the next of kin of my deceased client, which is legally possible and would be done in accordance with the laws of the land.

On this note I decided to search for a credible person and finding that you bear the same last name, I was urged to contact you to crave your participation and co-operation, that I may, with your consent, present you to the "trustee" bank as my late client's surviving family member so as to enable you put up a claim to the bank in that capacity as a next of kin of my client, so that the proceeds of this Bank Account valued at Nine Million Eight Hundred Thousand British Pounds Sterling only (9.8million ) can be paid to you, before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable to the bank where this huge deposit is lodged. Therefore, to facilitate the immediate reprofiling of this fund, you need first to contact me in UK with my contact details below signifying your interest and as soon as I obtain your confidence, I will intimate you with the complete details with directions on how to put up an application to the bank.

However, you will have to assent to an express agreement, which I will forward to you in order to bind us in this transaction. Upon the receipt of your reply, I will send you by fax or E-mail the next step to take. I will not fail to bring to your notice that this proposal is 100% risk and hitch-free and that you should not entertain any fears as the required arrangements have been made for the completion of this transfer since I have all vital documents that would be requested by them and that would confer you the legal right to make this claim.

I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. If this proposal is acceptable by you, get in touch with me through my email address and contact numbers below for better confidentiality and send to me your contact details to enable us discuss further about this transaction and hope you do not take undue advantage of the trust I have bestowed in you as I require only a solemn confidentiality on this and hope you do understand what confidentiality really means. Give me a call at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

Timothy Tau
Brimley & Co Solicitors
Attorney At Law
Tel/Fax: + 44-7040-902-514


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