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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: Rita <info@retajhotels.com>
Reply-To: <gabrielowen74@live.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:25:26 +0100
Subject: Your payment from Rita.

MY DEAR,

How is your health today? We have been contacted by MR DESMOND HAYES of Ontario Canada in which he has informed us about your illness and instruction to act on your behalf as regards to the claims of your fund, in this respect, we deem it wise to contact you first and find out if you are out of the hospital and to verify his claims to receive the fund on your behalf as we don’t want to conclude on hearing from him alone, in this respect, if you are out of hospital, it is very important that you should contact us and confirm that you have authorized him to claim the fund on your behalf.
Below are the Bank information(s) that he has sent to us for the processing of the payment, thus:-
BANK NAME: CIBC (CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK CANADA)
BANK ADDRESS: 380 CLARKE ROAD, LONDON, ONTARIO, N5W 6E7 CANADA
A/C NAME: DESMOND HAYES
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 5324785
TRANSIT NUMBER: 05482
BANK ID: 010
ROUTING NUMBER: CIBCCATT
NOTE: If we don’t hear from you within the next 48 hours, we will not have any other option than to proceed with his payment request as he is not aware that we have already contacted you right away for this confirmation, therefore, we shall be looking forward to your prompt reply to this mail or contact our Financial Coordinator, MR Gabreil Owen as soon as you receive this message for further briefings.
Thanks and best regards.
MS RITA DAWSON
(Secretary)
OFFSHORE PAYMENT OFFICE (UK) LTD

Anti-fraud resources: