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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: "Patrick McSweeney" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <pete_sweeney@blumail.org>
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2012 02:50:57 -0800
Subject: Private & Confidential

PRIVATE and CONFIDENTIAL
 
My name is Patrick McSweeney,a chartered Management Accountant and an External Auditor.I am currently working with a team of external auditors that is under retainership engagement by the HSBC Bank(UK) to audit its activities in the entire British Isles since last year.
 
In the course of a routine audit of the HSBC Bank,I discovered some investment accounts that have been dormant for some years.Most of the investment accounts belongs to single beneficiaries,unlike the corporate ones belonging to very few establishments. The balance in all these accounts currently stands at about 150 million British Pounds.However there is a particular one among the accounts that stands out for me.The current balance is 15.5 million GBP.No activity has been carried out on this particular account since year 2000. Statutorily,an investment account is regarded as dormant if such an account is not operated for a 5-year period.In other word this particular account has been dormant for 11 years.It goes without saying that this unusual extended period of dormancy on an account with a such a huge sum aroused my curiosity as a professional auditor.And in line with the regulations of the Financial Service Authority(FSA) in the United Kingdom,
it is my duty to report such a discovery to the management of the Bank.
 
But after a discreet investigation on the name of of the account owner,I have just found out that he died in year 2000,which is the year the account was last operated.He may have died obviously died intestate which is responsible for why nobody has come forward for claims all these years. What may also interest you,coincidentally,is that the late investor is from your country.I have been weighing a lot of options on how best to make these funds my own without the knowledge of the authorities.You will appreciate this more when you realise that I have been keeping every bit of my discovery secret for such a long time while pondering on how to contact a prospective partner like you.Rather than informing the HSBC management,I decided to go for an option that will be of immense benefit to both of us,with an explicit understanding for both of us to share the amount on a mutually agreed-upon percentage.This is obviously a great opportunity and I have chosen to get you involved beca! u se of the following reason: On the ground that you bear the same last name with the deceased and therefore urging you to come forward for the claim if you are related.But if you are not in any way related to the deceased,with the same last names for both of you,all the needed approvals can be facilitated in your name because I am of the conviction of the fact that we can capitalise on my insider leverage to secure the funds and release them in your name as the next-of-kin to the deceased investor.
 
I will provide you with all relevant approval documents(both legal and institutional) that will facilitate our achieving this goal.And it will be part of my responsibility to guide you on how to make the needed application for claim to the bank.And I can assure you that we are completely in charge of the transaction,and going by the way we are going to handle this,you are not going to be exposed to any risk.The transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.You will be protected all the way,during and after the conclusion of transaction. However it is important to let you known all I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through.I believe I will be able to work with you only if you are willing to guarantee me your sincerity and honesty which is regarded as a basic foundation for mutual trust.You have to be very reliable,trustworthy and absolutely discreet.
 
However I know you will be surprise to read an email of proposal like this from an unknown fellow to you.Apart from being surprise you may be skeptical to reply back to me as one needs to be very careful due to the invasion of the internet world in recent times by dishonest people. But I can assure that this is a different case.I got your contact from a professional colleague who had worked with your country's chamber of commerce.He intimated of your pedigree. In conclusion,I must use this opportunity to implore you to exercise the utmost indulgence to keep this proposal extraordinarily confidential no matter whatever may be your decision. If you are interested please contact me at once to indicate your interest to enable me give you more details regarding the procedures and strategies to be adopted and also the full account names of the deceased which is being kept to my chest until I am sure you will be interested.
 
Thank you for your time and I look forward to receiving your response mail soon.Contact me via my private email below, but If this business proposition offends your moral values, please do accept my apology.
 
Regards
Patrick McSweeney
London -United Kingdom
Email : pete_sweeney@blumail.org
 

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