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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: Alfred Julian <ahjcbb@terra.com>
Reply-To: ahjcbb@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2014 11:38:51 +0200
Subject: Hello...


Hello my good friend,
I pray that this email reaches you in the best of health. In this good
Year, I present my best wishes to you and your family with blessings,
goodness and mercy. This letter may come to you as a surprise due to the
fact that we have not yet met. The message could be strange but it's real
if you pay some attention to it. I want to notify you about it at least
for the sake of your integrity. In a brief introduction, My name is Alfred
Julian.

I am the Director of Operations with Continental Bank-Bénin. I have a very
interesting transaction to discuss with you.
The business under discussion has to do with our late Customer, who is a
nationality of your country and was employed as a Consultant with (SONACOP)
oil Company in Cotonou Republic of Benin.

I managed to get your contact details through the Internet search because
time is of importance to it and I am desperately looking for a person to
assist me pull this money out from the bank before our corrupt government
officials will confiscate the money and use it for their selfish interest.
On Thursday, December 25, 2003, the late customer and his wife including
their only daughter were involved in Air-Crash near the Atlantic Ocean in
Cotonou suburb. (May their soul rest in peace) Since then I have made
several inquiries to the Embassy in a bid to locate any relation of the
deceased, All attempts to reach the next of kin to the deceased has been
futile as he had no family here in Benin Republic.

Hence my decision to contact you, I want to go into partnership with you,
the nature of your business is completely irrelevant to this transaction as
all I need from you is an assurance that my interest will be fully
protected once the fund is transferred to your account. The late customer
made a numbered time (fixed) deposited for twelve calendar and his account
with our bank accrues to about Three Million, Five hundred and Fifty- Two
Thousand US Dollars) (USDM3.552,000.00), According to the Benin Law, at the
expiration of (11 years) the money will revert to the ownership of the
Benin government if nobody applies to claim the funds.

I discovered the funds transaction file in my office, so I decided to
contact you for the claim so you can receive the funds now that the
Economic Community of West African States has approved the immediate
release of all pending Contracts and Inheritance funds.

My proposal is, I will like you as a foreigner to apply as the next of kin
to the late customer as you have the same Nationality with him so that the
fruits of this old man's labor will not get into the hands of some corrupt
government officials who will later use the money to sponsor war in Africa
and kill innocent citizens in the search for political power/seat.
Note that there will be no problem at all, my position here guarantees the
successful execution of this transaction within 7 Banking days and the
money will be transferred into your account, then I will come over to your
country for us to share in the ratio of 50% for you and 50% for me. This is
very simple, I will like you to reply immediately so that I can send you
the Text of application which you will apply to the bank as the next of kin
to the Late Customer and I will use my good position here as the Director
of Operations to make sure that the application is approved for immediate
payment into your account.

This partnership will be done with total confidentiality in a climate of
trust and sincerity because I will not like in a situation where the funds
will be transferred to your account, then you turn to sit on my own shear
of the total funds.

If you are willing to partner with me in trust and sincerity, you reply as
soon as possible so we can get it done at once.

You can view the BBC web-news for the tragedy:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3348109.stm

Send me your personal information, both your private phone so I can be able
to call you as soon as possible.


Waiting your urgent reply.
Your friend and Partner,
Alfred Julian

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