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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: "Simon Ndota" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <SIMONNDOTA@ZOHO.COM>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2015 10:30:19 +0100
Subject: Seeking for your kind assistance.

My name is Barrister Simon Ndota a legal practitioner based in Johannesburg and the personal attorney to later Mr. Randolph Marriott, a Foreign National who died along with his wife and two sons in a robbery attack in their farm settlement home in Johannesburg, South Africa. My client was a successful and an accomplished family man who made enough fortune before his untimely death. Since then I have made several inquiries through his Embassy to locate any of his extended relatives but this exercise has proved unsuccessful. After several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his relatives to locate any member of his family, not much progress was recorded.
 
Mr. Randolph Marriott was an influential wealthy businessman, a diamond magnet here in Johannesburg and he left behind a deposit of Ten Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (USD$10.500, 000.00USD) in his domiciliary bank account in a commercial bank here in South Africa. After the death of Randolph Marriott, his bankers contacted me as his attorney to provide his next of kin who should inherit his funds. The board of directors of his bank adopted a resolution and I was mandated to provide his next of kin for the payment of these funds or forfeit the money to the bank as an abandoned property. The bankers had planned to invoke the abandoned property decree of 1996 to confiscate the funds after the expiration of the period given to me.
Fortunately, in the verge of my search, I came across your name through a consultancy firm in your Chamber of Commerce & Industry that provided me with your reputable data. Being convinced that you might provide clue to my search. I therefore decided to contact you with these facts before me because of the similarities. By virtue of my closeness to the deceased and his immediate family, I am very much aware of my clients financial standing and the bank account he operates.
 
I have reasoned very professionally and I feel it will be legally proper to present you as the next of kin to my deceased client, so that you can be paid the funds left in his bank account. I therefore seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased since you are at an advantage. The proceeds of this bank account valued at USD$10.5Million US Dollars can be paid to you. We shall both share the funds equally, 50% for me and 50% to you. I shall assemble all the necessary legal documents that will be used to back up our claim. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us seeing the deal through.
 
I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.
 
Yours Sincerely,
Barrister Simon Ndota

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