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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: Howard Elis <howardelis24@yahoo.com.ph>
Reply-To: howard_elis@ymail.com
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:34:25 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: HELLO, MY DEAR FRIEND..




Hello, my dear Friend,



I am the HEAD of the "Operations Unit" in one of the Financial Institutions here in the United Kingdom. I urge you to note that the contents of this email are for "Your Eyes Only" and should no be shared or disclosed because of the nature of my proposal.



Furthermore, I need you to administer the sum of £18,800,000.00(Eighteen Million Eight Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling) which was obtained after six months of investment by Mr. Marco Antonio Silva who was a Brazilian citizen, and a High Network Client of our branch, who lost his life and that of his wife and only daughter, Maria Aline Da Silva and Elaine Tavares Da Silva, tragically on July 17th 2007.



See confirmation of his death on this site:



(http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2007/images/07/18/tam.list.pdf)



As a standard practice here, we did a preliminary investigation to get a blood relative who would stand to inherit this money since Elaine Tavares Da Silva, his only daughter and next of kin also died leaving no next of kin.



It has been over three years now, and nobody has come forward,and the funds remained Frozen to observe monetary regulations here and in the next three months I will have to notify the Government to claim it.



I see a perfect opportunity in this situation for us to make money, and with my position, you can receive this money to be shared between us.



I feel happy knowing that the money does not belong to anyone. But it will be unfortunate if we let this chance pass us by.



I need a very sincere person, as I will not compromise loyalty for any reason because I have been hurt too many times by people I know and care about.



I intend on being open with you at all times and I will appreciate the same from you. This is my guarantor success.



We await you urgent response by e-mail as soon as possible.



Best Regards,



Mr Howard Elis.

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