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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: Marios Petros <tfcpro1@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2015 22:32:01 +0100
Subject: Please reply ASAP

Hello, I sincerely hope you do not feel an apprehension after reading this
message, especially as it is from a total stranger. I apologize for
contacting you like this, it is not because I am rude or audacious, but
because I can not think of a better way.
I have a situation that we can exploit together and make a fortune for
ourselves. I will explain it to you shortly. But first,
I need you to understand that because of its nature, I can only give you
sketchy details at this point, in order to
protect myself and preserve the beneficial situation from disappearing. I
will provide you with more specific details when you have shown a
reasonable level
of interest.

I am a banker in Cyprus and (for security reasons, I cannot give you the
name of my bank at this time), I have been working at this bank for
39years. I have now held the position of the manager at my branch for the
past 7years. At the end of every financial year, I do an exclusive foreign
currency accounts appraisal. Four years ago, I noticed a private account
belonging to a very wealthy Foreign energy contractor who did contracts
with the Cypriot government, whose last activity was 11 months prior. I
checked the log activities of this account and discovered that prior to its
last activity which left its balance at $11,342,509.70, the account had a
very heavy traffic of in and out funds. So I was concerned by the abrupt
stop of traffic. I monitored the account closely for one year, at the end
of which there was still no activity. Then I employed a private
investigator to help track the owner of the account. After 6months of
investigation, the investigator came back to me with information that the
account owner died in a car accident in France in 2011. To be absolutely
sure, I hired another PI to do the exact same thing I asked of the first
PI, which was to track the whereabout of the account owner, and he came up
with the same result after 7months; he had died in a car crash in france.
At this point, I decided to contact the next of kin of the account holder,
but when I checked the account opening documents, there was no information
in the next of kin column.

Our bank rule is; when a foreign currency account is inactive for 27months,
it becomes dormant. After a further 9months, the next of kin of the account
holder is contacted, and he either puts the bank back in touch with the
account holder or takes over the account upon presentation of proof of
death of the account holder. If details of a next of kin is not provided or
the next of kin cannot be reached in twelve months, the account is
transfered to the central bank.
Having knowledge of this rule, I embarked on a search of a foreigner with
the same nationality with our deceased customer, and that's where you come
in. I got your email address.

Now here is my proposal, with your co-operation as a foreigner having the
same nationality with our deceased customer, I would
fill your information in the next of kin column of his account opening
documents. You would then come forward through an attorney and make claim
for the account. And with me as the branch manager, it would be an open and
close case;
it should be concluded in a matter of days.
I am offering you 2million USD for you cooperation.
You can be very sure that you are not putting yourself at risk for doing
this because I will put your information in the account opening document,
and give you proof of death of the customer which makes your claim through
an attorney valid.
I hope you will not find my proposal distateful and join me in executing
it. However, if for some reason you cannot do it, then I am
sorry to have bothered you with this message, just simply ignore it.
But if you are interested, please respond quickly.
Please, it's important to me that you do not discuss this message with
anyone, as it may put the deal in jeopardy.
Thank you
Marios

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