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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: "MREVYN KING" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mervynnking874@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2012 08:12:13 +0800
Subject: business proposal ::

Good Day,

Although you might be nervous about my email as we have not met before. My name is Mervyn King, I work with Bank of England; there is the sum of EURO 20,600,000.00 (Twenty Million, Six Hundred Thousand Euros) in my bank,there were no beneficiary avowed relating to these funds which means no individual would ever come frontward to claim it.

The reason why I contacted you is that I want us to work together to transfer the funds out of my bank into your bank account or any other account of your choice. I will be pleased to see if you can help me and also be a good and trusted person. Once the funds have been transferred to your nominated bank account, we shall then share in the ratio of 60% for me, 40% for you. Get back to me as soon as possible via the below e-mail.

I look forward to hear from you soonest.

Best Regards,
Sir.Mervyn King
Tel: +(44) 703 188 8562
E-mail: mervynnking874@gmail.com

Anti-fraud resources: