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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 Robertson <robertson@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: jrobertson960@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 02 Sep 2013 16:31:19 +0000
Subject: Very Important Business



Good Day

It may surprise you receiving this letter from me, since there was no
previous correspondence between us. My name is Mr John Robertson, a
United Kingdom national and Personal Attorney to a late foreigner, who
died without leaving a WILL behind and will hereinafter called my
client.

My purpose of contacting you is for you to help secure the funds left
behind by my late client, to avoid it being confiscated or declared
unserviceable by the Bank; this fund is valued £15,000,000.00 (Fifteen
Million Pounds Sterling) deposited by my client before his death. The
Bank has issued me a notice to contact the next of kin or the account
will be declared unserviceable and the fund diverted to the Bank
treasury. Despite all efforts to get a hold of someone related to this
man has proved futile; hence, I am much interested to know whether you
will be capable to do this business with me in full confidence
trusting that you will never let me down in future. All arrangements
for the successful transfer of the fund to your account is already in
place but my only Worry is the security and safety of the funds once
transferred to your account. I am actually asking for your consent to
present you to the Bank as the Next of Kin/Beneficiary of my late
client's funds so that the proceeds of this fund can be paid to your
nominated account, then we can share the fund on a mutually agreed
percentage.

I?ll provide all the legal documentations needed to back up your
claims as my client's next of Kin. All I require is your honest
cooperation to enable us achieve this transaction. The intended
transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will
protect you from any infraction of the law. However, if this business
proposition offends your moral ethics, do accept my sincere apology.
If on the contrary you wish to achieve this goal with me, kindly get
back to me via my private email.

Best Regards,
Mr John Robertson

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