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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: "John Tiner"<ciraolo@ono.com>
Reply-To: <mr.jtiner111@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 23:31:23 +0100
Subject: FYI.

Dear friend,

Greetings to you and I hope this letter meets you in good health! My name is John Tiner, the Chairman Audit Committee in Credit Suisse Bank and I wish to present a Business Proposal for your consideration. I have a GBP Account placed under my Portfolio belonging to a foreign deceased customer with a closing balance of £15,000,000.00 GBP. The Account has not been operated for a period of 3years and I would like to seek your permission to have you stand as the family representative of the deceased to retrieve the money into your account.

The choice of contacting you is because the UK banking policy and guideline stipulates that any funds belonging to a deceased person for a period of 5years will be transferred into the bank treasury as an unclaimed debt and I do not want that to happen which is why I need your assistance. If you are willing to accept my proposal kindly reply my e-mail by indicating your interest with your full name, address and phone number, there after percentages and more information will be relayed to you on my next mail.

Yours Truly,

Mr. John Tiner

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