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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: "Alberto Mallenco" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mallencoalbert@qq.com>
Date: Sat, 8 Feb 2014 14:24:29 +0100
Subject: Dear Friend

Hi
My names are Barrister Alberto Mallenco  and I work with  ASOCIADOS Spain.  Actually, I got your contact information through the Email  public records while searching for  my late client's a business magnate by name Marek , who lived in Spain for over a decade prior to his death, he died along with his nuclear family during the War in libya.
 
Prior to my explaining further, I must first make an apology for this unsolicited mail to you. I am conscious that this is certainly not a predictable way of approach to foster a relationship of trust but because of the circumstances and urgency surrounding this claim. Before the catastrophe; He deposited One Trunk Box/Diplomatic Personal Treasure, containing the sum of $15.8M with a Safe Security Company here in  Spain, because of security and personal reasons he did not disclose the exact content of deposited diplomatic box to the SAFE HOUSE. As the attorney to late Marek Kwasniewski,  the security company has mandated me to present a member of his family
 
After exhaustive efforts of search for a direct family member to my late client which came to no avail, I was given an ultimatum to look for some relative/Business Partner to come for the claim or have the Vault liquidated and made unserviceable in accordance with existing laws.  Against this backdrop, my suggestion to you is that I will like you to stand as the next of kin. I know you may not be anyway related to my late client but having a common surname with him and the modality I have in place I can guarantee that if you follow my instructions (The rule of laws) and capitalizing of some judicial loop holes the vault will be release to us.
Mind you that this transaction is 100% risk free; there is no atom of risk connected to this business as I have worked out all modalities to complete the operation effectively. Once the consignment (vault) is released to you, the content will be disburse equally
 
For further details kindly respond via alb_mallenco@qq.com
 
Best Regards
 
Barrister Alberto Mallenco

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