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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: WEB FILE 10 <yakubuusman01@googlemail.com>
Reply-To: webfile10@yandex.com
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2014 15:26:48 +0000
Subject: For Your Urgent Attention!

Barrister Emmanuel Harrison,
Partner, Abdullahi,Taiwo & Co,.
Address: Goodwill House, 278 Ikorodu Road, Lagos.

Dear Friend,
It is with trust I am writing to introduce myself to you, and share
an experience with you which I believe should be mutually beneficial.
My name is Mr. Emmanuel Harrison. I am an attorney with
Abdullahi,Taiwo & Co. here in Lagos, and incidentally an attorny to
Mr. Henry Mackinnon (who is now late). Mr. Henry Mackinnon was until
his death in 2010 in industrial accident a senior petroleum engineer
with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. The Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation is indebted to my late client, Mr.
Henry Mackinnon to the tune of US$21,000,000 (twenty one million US
Dollars) from a running contract before his death, which is the reason
for this contact.

It would interest you to know that the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation has approved payment of this debts of US$21,000,000
(twenty one million US Dollars) to the family of Mr. Henry
Mackinnon, based mainly on my several petitions to that effect.
Unfortunately however, I have made several unfruitful efforts over
the years to locate any Mr. Henry Mackinnon family members both here
and abroad, hence this contact to you. I have to state though that he
remained single until his death at 51. So, as his personal attorney,
the paying bank has officially advised me to forward details of late
Henry Mackinnon of kin within the next one month for the purpose of
releasing this USD$21 Million dollars to them, otherwise his payment
would be transferred to the government treasury as unclaimed bill.
And since I have been unsuccessful in the search to locating any of
his family members, I have decided to contact you for a deal so that
we can work together as a team to get this money to your account as
late Mr. Henry Mackinnon . This is because; I cannot stand by and
watch my client's hard earned entitlement go to undeserving persons.

Please note that we shall achieve the successful claim and release of
these funds on your name through a simple legal process which will
make you the inheritor and beneficiary of these funds, because Mr.
Mackinnon is of the same country of origin with you. I will assure you
that I am presenting this matter to you with the best of intentions,
even though I must admit that a matter of this nature is bound to
making anyone curious and apprehensive. Let me also state here that
all that is needed now is your honesty and sense of purpose which
would enable us achieve this objective. I assure that the claim and
transfer of these funds on your name shall be under a Legitimate
banking arrangement which would protect you fully from any risk. I
have to state that upon successful transfer of the funds, you will be
entitled to 30% of the total funds for the part you have played. If
you are interested to work with me in this deal then kindly reply
with your full personal information such as full names, residential
and business addresses and telephone numbers.

Please, be advised to treat this message strictly as a private affair.

Regards,,
Barrister Emmanuel Harrison,

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