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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 Claude" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <claudepatrick38@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2012 13:50:35 +0100
Subject: Information about Your late Relation/Family member- Final Notice..

 
Ref: Information about Your late Relation/Family member- Final Notice
This is my second but final attempt to reach you in view of this subject matter.When someone dies without leaving a will and there's no known relative to inherit his estate, the government receives the money. Unless, a previously unknown distant relative or a descendant from the same ancestor is found within a limited time frame at the discretion of the treasury department to claim the inheritance as laid out in section 46 of the Administration of Estates  Act of 1992.
I am Patrick Claude,the Head of Audit department of SNS Bank Netherlands.There is an account belonging to your Late Family Member Which i will like to discuss with you.Once I receive your respond I shall provide you with all the privileged information/legal documents relating to the deceased and also will give you guidelines on how to realize this goal without the breach of the law.
I respectfully request that you treat the content of this letter as privileged and respect the integrity of the information as a result of this correspondence. Contact me immediately for more information and to begin the legal process of redeeming your lawful entitlement before the bank is compelled by law to hand over the money to the government as unclaimed estate.
Kind Regards,
Patrick
 

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