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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: "Mr.Steven" <steven.banny2@hotmail.fr>
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2014 20:43:06 -0500
Subject: Mr.Steven would like you to visit...Indian Journal of Ophthalmology...


Dear friend,

Your friend Mr.Steven would like you to vist the following page of
Indian Journal of Ophthalmology.





=========Message==========

From: Mr.Steven Banny. Add: Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. Hello, My name is
Mr.Steven Banny the principal treasury officer with one of the prime
banks in Cote d'Ivoire. I have decided to contact you through this
medium based on a business proposal, which will be of mutual benefit to
both of us. I discovered your email through comprehensive web email
search on directory so I decided to contact you. I know this might
sound like scam to you because of a lot of activities going on in the
internet today. But I assure you that this is real. I am the personal
accounts manager to one of our late client, a national of your country,
who used to work with an oil servicing company here in Cote d'Ivoire,
the late client made a numbered time (fixed) deposited for twelve
calendar months, valued at ?16,500,000.00 (Sixteen Million Five Hundred
Thousand European Euro) in my branch. Upon maturity, we sent a routine
notification to his forwarding address but got no reply. After a month,
we sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his contract
employers, PETRO-CI Corporation that my client died from an automobile
accident. On further investigation, I found out that he did not leave a
will and all attempts to trace his next of kin were fruitless. I
therefore made further investigation and discovered that the deceased
person did not declare any next of kin in all his official documents,
including his bank deposit paperwork. This sum of (?16,500,000.00) is
still sitting in the bank and the interest is rolled over with the
principal sum at the end of each year. No one will come forward to
claim it. According to the law of Cote d'Ivoire, at the expiration of
5{five} years, the money will l revert to the ownership of the Cote
d'Ivoire government if nobody claims the funds. Consequently, my
proposal is that I will like you as a foreigner to stand in as the next
of kin to deceased person for the fact that you have same last name
with him so that this money will not be reverted by the government. If
this request matches with your inward intention for success and
greatness, then you are urged to make a quick response indicating your
interest and readiness to participate and work with me to make this
successful. Please observe utmost confidentiality, and be rest assured
that this transaction would be most profitable for both of us because I
shall require your assistance to invest my share in your country. In
your return mail, please do forward your information as listed below if
you are willing to complete this deal with me, to enable me put the
total fund in your name for claim as the next of kin to the deceased
person: Your full name: Your contact address: Your phone number: Your
age: I wait for your urgent reply. Regards, Mr.Steven Banny

=========Message==========

Regards

Indian Journal of Ophthalmology

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