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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: "Mr Mohd Awang" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <awangmohhh@yahoo.com.au>
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 23:59:37 -0400
Subject: Re: Your Kindest Attention

Dear Sir,

I am Mr. Mohd Awang, the Chief Risk Officer with a top Bank here in Malaysia. For reasons which I hope you would understand, I would only disclose the name of our bank once I am assured that we can do business with you. I got your contact information from your country’s information center here in Kuala Lumpur and wanted to contact you on the number that I saw on your company address but decided to write as I guess you might not understand me clearly on the phone. We have a situation which requires for me to make some inquiries before taking the next decision.

We have a dormant investment account of a huge sum of money in our bank which was set up by one a foreigner whose origin we have traced to your country. The long period of dormancy of this account prompted me to do an extensive investigation where I discovered that the account owner had died a long time ago at almost the same time his account was last operated. I have been able to go through his files to find out that no "next of kin" was stated in all the documents associated with his account; which explains why no one has contacted our bank since all these years to apply for his estate. I am absolutely sure that no one would ever come to apply for this fund and other assets he has here in Malaysia.
Here is my proposal: if it turns out that you are related to this late investor, let me know so I can guide you on how you can retrieve his assets from the bank as long as I and my colleagues would be rewarded with a slice of this fund once the bank release it to you. But in case you are not sure that you have any relative that had lived in Malaysia, or you have checked and found out that he is not your relative, we would need your co-operation as we would want to secure this fund by getting you to apply to our bank as his relative. I would guide you on how to make the application and provide you all the necessary documents that would authenticate your claim.

In case the later turns out to be the case, and we are assured that we can work with you without any problem, I will give you more details, disclose the name of our bank, let you know the step to take, and then discuss with you on how this fund would be shared between you and every staff that would play a role in getting our bank to release this fund into either your nominated account or an account we can arrange to be set up with your name in Singapore or Hongkong. Please contact me on my personal email or phone which I have stated above; and I would kindly ask you not to disclose this matter to another person even if you decide not to co-operate with us

Yours truly,
Mohd Awang

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