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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: Curtis Douglas Gerald <centrogiusy@aslsalerno.it>
Reply-To: curtisdouglasgerald@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 09:15:31 +0200
Subject: Business Plan.

Hello,

I am Mr.Curtis Douglas Gerald, i work with Direct Financial Services
(UK) LTD, United Kingdom. I contacted you in respect of an investment
placed under our management 9 years ago by late Leonard Rodriguez
Antonio.I contact you independently of our investigation and emphasis
the reason of this communication. I would like to intimate you with
certain facts that I believe would be of interest to you.
In 2004, the subject matter; Leonard came to us to engage in business
discussions. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of forty
nine million Five Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States dollars,
which he wished to have us turn over (invest) on his behalf. I was the
officer assigned to his case, I made numerous suggestions in line with
my duties as the de-facto global head of the Offshore banking sector,
especially given the volume of funds he wished to put into our
management. We met on numerous occasions prior to any investments
being placed. I encouraged him to consider various growth funds with
prime ratings.

In Line with instructions, the money was deposited with Persell Ewart
& Co. Financial Management. Leonard told me he wanted the money there
in anticipation of his arrival from Norway later that week. This was
the last communication we had, this transpired around 27th September
2005. In June last year, we got a call from
Persell Ewart & Co. Financial Management informing us of the
inactivity of that particular portfolio. This was an astounding
position as far as I was concerned, given the fact that I was still in
the Direct Financial Offshore sector I'm the only one other than Tony
Dupan who himself is on a year's leave of absence and is now a
visiting lecturer at the London School Of Economics as we both served
on the sub-committee on Mr.Leonard's portfolio initially who knew
about the deposit at
Persell Ewart & Co. Financial Management, and I could not understand
why Leonard had not come forward to claim his deposit.

I immediately passed the task of locating him to the internal
investigations department of Direct Financial Services (UK) LTD. Four
days later, information started to trickle in, apparently Leonard was
dead. A person who suited his description was declared dead of a heart
attack in Cannes, South of France. We were soon enough able to
identify the body and cause of death was confirmed. Direct Financial
Services (UK) LTD immediately launched an investigation into possible
surviving next of kin to alert about the situation and also to come
forward to claim his estate. If you are familiar with Offshore banking
affairs, those who patronize our services usually prefer anonymity,
but also some levels of detachment from conventional processes. In his
bio-data form, he listed no next of kin.

We have scanned every continent and used our private investigation
affiliate companies to get to the root of the problem. It is this
investigation that resulted in my being furnished with your details as
a possible relative of the deceased. My official capacity dictates
that my department supervises the eventual outcome of the
investigation. You had unfortunately declared that you are in no way
affiliated with this individual. What this means, you being the last
batch of names we had considered, is that our dear late fellow died
with no known or identifiable family member. This leaves you as the
only person with the full picture of what the prevailing situation is
in relation to the deposit and the late beneficiary of the deposit.

There is US$ 49,550,000.00(forty nine million Five Hundred and Fifty
Thousand United States dollars) available to be released to the next
of kin. My proposal; I am prepared to place you in a position to
instruct them to release the deposit to you as the next of kin. Upon
receipt of the deposit, I am prepared to share the money with you as
the beneficiary that is: You will get 30% of US$ 49,550,000.00 while
I take 70%. I assure you that I could have the deposit released to you
within a few days not later than 10 business days.

Do not betray my confidence. If we can be of one accord, we should
plan a meeting soon.

Awaiting your good response.

Sincerely,

Curtis Douglass Gerald.

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