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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: "Ms. Wanda Cross" <wandacross380@yahoo.co.uk> (may be fake)
Reply-To: wandacross111@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2012 12:20:22 +0300 (EAT)
Subject: Do read and get back to me

Good day to you.

I am Ms Wanda Cross, a banker who works with a bank here in London. I am
the account officer to a foreigner who is a Citizen of your Country,he
worked for the Petrochemical Support Services Company of London United
Kingdom.

My client was involved motor accident on the 16th of January, 2004 and
later that same day he died. Since then I have made several inquiries to
your country's Embassy to locate any of my clients extended relatives,
but this has proved unsuccessful. I have also visited your Country in
search of his relatives early this year but still could not locate his
relations. After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to
contact you today privately as a total stranger, with hope that you are a
reliable and trustworthy person, to help, or find a trustworthy
individual that will assist and secretly secure the money left behind by
my client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by his
Bank since the mandatory five year waiting period, allowed by United
Kingdom law, has expired. It is important that my contact be somebody who
can in no way be identified with me in order to avoid suspicion of
insider dealing.

Particularly, the Bank where the deceased had an Account valued at about
18.5M has issued me an urgent notice yesterday to provide the next of kin
or have the Account confiscated within 10 working days, hence this is why
I am contacting you. Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the
relatives, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the
deceased as you are also a foreigner(you just have to answer the same name
with my client) so that the proceed of this Account valued at 18.5M,
minus interest, can be paid to you and then you and i can share the money,
60% for me and 40% for you undoubtedly. You don't need any experience to
do this, I have all necessary legal documents that will be used to back up
all claims we will make with your name.

All I require from you is your honest co-operation and full guarantee and
assurance that you shall hand me over my 60% in good faith and also assist
me in investing some of my share in a lucrative business in your country
because I shall come over to your country immediately it is done. To know
that this offer is genuine and legal, i have the deceased information
below to log-in into is account,
--Username---
--Password---
so you will be able to view the account and confirm that the 18.5m is
available in his account, i am truly his account officer,so i have all is
account details with me.


I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement
that will protect you from any breach of the law, making it 100% risk
free on your side. Expecting to hear from you soonest, so that we can
commence the process immediately. I await your urgent response immediately
Best regards
Wanda Cross

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