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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: "Wallace" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <w.george@consultant.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 22:48:01 -0000
Subject: INQUIRY

Hello,

I hope this email gets to you this time as this is my third time of sending it? I have tried without success to locate your contact address and telephone number and I resorted to communicate with you via email which is an unconventional means of relaying an important message such as this. Kindly accept my sincere apology if my email sounds offensive since you were not notified previously about this inquiry.

My name is George Wallace, I am an attorney and a Certified Private Investigator (CPI) accredited by Precise Business Consulting. We are presently conducting a standard process investigation and recommendation exercise on behalf of Credit Suisse Bank , a financial investment arm of Credit Suisse Group. This investigation is in respect of a deceased customer ( Names withheld ) who shares the same surname with you including circumstances surrounding his huge financial investments.

However, you may be interested to know that I got your impressive information after a very conscious search online for a suitable successor to the deceased customer while tracing extended family ancestry records and I have decided to contact you before concluding my investigation.

The customer died intestate and nominated no successor in title over the huge financial investments he made at Credit Suisse Bank and we have been assigned to recommend a beneficiary to secure his lodgment before the bank gets it confiscated in the next 20 working days.

The essence of this message is to request you to provide answers/comments on any or all of the four questions below:

1. Are you aware of any relative or extended family of yours born on the 17th of February 1946 who shares the same surname with you and whose last known location was the United Kingdom ?

2. Are you aware of any reasonable financial investments made by this person at Credit Suisse Bank , a financial investment arm of Credit Suisse Group?

3. Could you establish beyond reasonable doubt your eligibility to assume status of successor in title to the deceased if you are legally recommended to the Bank ?

4. Would you advance a substantial part of the funds as donations to charity if you are eventually approved by the bank as the lodgment beneficiary ?

Your answers to the questions above would help to determine our recommendation to Credit Suisse Bank towards legally appointing you to inherit this investment fund after previously certified investigation by the bank had yielded negative results that there was no known relation to the deceased customer.

Be advised that we are constrained at this point from giving you detailed information concerning the investigation process for security reasons.

I would provide you with additional information on receipt of your response.

Thank you for accommodating our inquiry.

Yours Faithfully,

George Wallace.

Note: Please do not respond to this INQUIRY if you have no idea about the above specified questions.

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