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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: "Harry Williams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <HarryHarry@writeme.com>
Date: Wed, 13 May 2015 14:51:09 +0300
Subject: From Mr. Harry Williams..

>From Mr. Harry Williams
Email: Harry.Williams4@gmx.com


My name is Mr. Harry Williams, NatWest, Director of Commercial Banking, Chelmsford & Romford. United Kingdom. Being a top executive at NATWEST, I discovered a Numbered account with a credit balance of ?18,300,000 .00 British Pounds plus accumulated interest, which belongs to an American multi-millionaire Crude oil Merchant Mr. David Watkins, who was a victim of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Until now, nobody knows about his bank account with NatWest Bank and my further investigation proved that the deceased immediate family also died in the tragedy.


With my position at the bank, I have all access, secret details and necessary contacts for claim of the funds without any hitch. But due to the sensitive nature of my job, I need a foreigner to HELP claim the funds, my position as a civil servant and as a staff of the bank does not permit me or my relatives to claim this funds. Therefore I contact you as a foreigner to arrange the transfer of this fund out of this account before our next auditing because If our bank management discover that this account has been latent for these long, it will be frozen and the money will be returned to the bank treasury, as unclaimed public funds. Therefore, I want you to stand as the Foreign Beneficiary", and I assure you of a perfect transfer strategy that will be placed in your name legally, so that nobody will suspect your claims.


For your involvement in this deal, you are entitled to 40% of the total amount transferred to your bank account and I will count on your sense of secrecy in order to avoid risky exposure of this deal. Upon consideration of the offer, Kindly provide me with your full name, contact address and your direct telephone/fax number, to enable me re-profile the fund to your name as the heir beneficiary and guide your communication with the bank for onward release and transfer of the fund to your bank account. Considering the sensitivity nature and magnitude of this project,i ask your reply to my private Email: Harry.Williams4@gmx.com

Thanking you in anticipation for your prompt response.


Best Regards,
Mr. Harry Williams,
NatWest Bank Plc.
Director Commercial Banking,
Chelmsford & Romford.

Anti-fraud resources: