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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 .W. Henry" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <johnwhenry007@hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 2 May 2015 15:59:24 +0100
Subject: Good-day.

Good-day,

I am the Head of Operations at a West Africa bank. I am sending you this financial proposal not under my official capacity but on a personal level which explains why I cannot disclose the details of our bank until I confirm your interest to work with me. I got your contact information from your country’s email database.

In the course of a routine audit which I supervised lately, I discovered some investment accounts that have been dormant for some years. Most of the investment accounts belong to single beneficiaries, unlike the corporate ones belonging to very few establishments. Amongst these accounts there is a particular one that stands out for me which has a huge amount of money. No activity has been carried out on this account since the year 1992. In our book, that is classified as a dormant account.

After discreet investigation through an heir hunter, I found out that the account owner had passed away in 1992, which is the year the account was last operated. Based on records, he died intestate (registered no one as his next of kin) which explains why no one has come forward for claim. Having been thinking on how to deal with this situation in a way that would benefit me instead of reporting it to the senior management of the bank; I resolved that the safest option is to involve any foreigner who by coincidence shares the same surname with this late investor.

Now here is my proposal, if it turns out that you share the same surname, I would under a special arrangement with you, disclose more information and then guide you on how to apply to the bank to get them transfer his estates to you. But you would be expected to provide necessary documents to authenticate your claim in this regards. I call this option A. On the other hand, if you don’t share the same surname with him, it would have to be a different case which I call option B.

If option B happens to be the case, which I think is likely, I can package and present you to our bank as the living maternal next of kin to the late investor; I will issue you with all relevant documents to substantiate your claim, as I have all copies that will be authenticated by a lawyer. I will guide you on how to make the needed preliminary application for claim. I can assure you that, as long as you keep this matter confidential, you would not be exposed to any risk, as I intend to execute this under a secured arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Subject to percentages, I am willing to give you 50% of the total sum after the transaction has been completed.

Please contact me for more details if interested and I will issue you with my full contact details. However, if this proposition offends you, please accept my apology.

Yours truly,

John .W. Henry

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