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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: "James Hans" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jhans@kimo.com>
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:58:17 -0700
Subject: JAMES HANS SOLICITORS........

JAMES HANS SOLICITORS
2 Whit More Gardens
London, NW10 5HH


Attn: Sir/Madam,

I am JAMES HANS , a legal practitioner based in United Kingdom, I feel quite safe dealing with you in this business proposition, although this medium (Internet) has been greatly abused, I chose to reach you through it because it still remains the fastest, surest and most secured medium of communication. Be informed that this letter is not a hoax or Scam mail and I urge you to treat it with the seriousness it deserves.

I am the personal attorney to Robert Fitzpatrick, an American who was a consultant with Shell UK LTD here in London, who shall be referred to as my client. Unfortunately my client lost his life aboard Egypt Air Flight 990, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on October 31st, 1999 (news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/502503.stm) and left no clear beneficiary as Next of Kin except some vital documents related to the deposit still with me. All efforts by me to trace his Next of Kin proved abortive because he did not make any will prior to his death.

Since then I have made several inquiries to locate any of my late clients extended relatives and this has proved unsuccessful. After my several unsuccessful attempts to locate any member of his family hence I contacted you. I am contacting you to assist in claiming the money left behind by my client before they get confiscated or declared unclaimed by the security company where this huge deposit were deposited. Particularly, the finance company where the deceased had the said fund valued at USD 20 million dollars has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin.
Consequent upon this, my idea is that we can have a deal/agreement and I am going to do this legally with your name as the bona fide beneficiary of the amount in question as I have all legal document to back our claim.

I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased so that the proceeds of this account valued at $20 Million US dollars can be paid to your account abroad, note that 35% of this money will be for you, in respect to the provision of a foreign account and 55% would be for me as I have planned to come to your Country as soon as the transfer is completed, 10% will be used for the reimbursement of any expenditure we may incur in the cause of the transaction.

I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law, all I need from you is your utmost collaboration and sincerity for us to thrive in this deal.
Please kindly get back to me through my email address or personal phone number for confidentiality and send to me your telephone and fax numbers to enable us discuss further on this transaction.

Kind regards,

JAMES HANS .

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