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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: JOHN SCHEFFEY <alam@xpeedgroup.com>
Reply-To: <john.scheffey@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 01:33:01 -0700
Subject: REPLY SIR!!



From: John Scheffey
Bank UBS AG Switzerland
Postfach 8098 Zurich
Switzerland
Postal Account: 80-2-2
SWIFT: UBSW CH ZH 80A
www.ubs.com

Good Day,

I am an investment consultant working with Bank UBS AG Zurich at their
offshore department Zurich Switzerland. I will be happy to work this
deal out with you if you have a corporate or personal Bank Account and
if you are capable to keep TOP SECRET. I need strong Assurance that
you will never let me down, if I transfer this money to your account.

During one of our periodic auditing I discovered a dormant accounts
with holding balance of US$42,000,000.00 {Forty Two Millon US Dollars
only} Sometimes a person
will open a bank account, deposit money, and then disappear into the
tin air. Banks are not always able to find out what has become of
these silent customers, or to know whether they should follow up on
requests from people who claim to be heirs to the accounts.

The main problem is that the customer resides abroad and, due to bank
secrecy, the bank cannot publish notices in the international press to
locate the depositaries. This has led the majority of Swiss banks to
refrain from opening small-deposit accounts for foreign customers; for
fear that they will forget that the account exists.

It has happened in the past, however, that customers pass away and
their heirs can neither prove the death, nor their heir ship.

This was a frequent occurrence during the wartime periods, and the
banks have now set up a simple, rapid resolution procedure operating
to their customers' advantage. Dormant assets are defined as any
assets deposited with a bank (i.e. an account, a custody account or a
safety-deposit box) for which there has been no contact with the
customer in the bank's files for the last ten years or more.

I am constrained to issue more details about this business until your
response is received. If you know that you are capable to handle large
or small amount on trust and can keep secret and ready to take 45% of
any amount I transfer to your account from the dormant account and I
will take 55%, send your account information's by return mail. Tell me
more about yourself, while I look forward to receive the above
information.

I want to re-assure you that this business is risk free and you can
send an empty account to receive the funds, provided that the account
is capable to receive incoming funds.

Look forward to discuss this opportunity further with you in detail.
Please email me back Or provide me with your phone number for
discussion of this transaction in further details.



Thank you for your time and attention.

Regards,
John Scheffey

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