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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: Mr David Albert <mrdavidalbert60@outlook.fr>
Reply-To: <mrdavidalbert62@outlook.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2016 14:55:33 +0100
Subject: Hello my friend,


Add: Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire,

Hello my friend,

I am
Mr.David Albert, the principal treasury officer with one of the prime
banks in Cote d’Ivoire. I have decided to contact you through this
medium based on a business proposal, which will be of mutual benefit to
both of us. I discovered your email through comprehensive web email
search on directory so I decided to contact you. I know this might sound
like scam to you because of the activities going on in the internet
today. But I assure you that this is not a joke.

I am the account
manager to one of our late client, from your country, he worked with an
oil servicing company here in Cote d’Ivoire, the late client made a
numbered time (fixed) deposited for twelve calendar months, valued at
$10,200,000.00 (Ten Million Two Hundred Thousand American Dollar) in my
branch. Upon maturity, we sent a routine notification to his forwarding
address but got no reply.

After a month, we sent a reminder and
finally we discovered from his contract employers, PETRO-CI Corporation
that my client died from an automobile accident. On further
investigation, I found out that he did not leave a will and all attempts
to trace his next of kin were fruitless. I therefore made further
investigation and discovered that the deceased person did not declare
any next of kin in all his official documents, including his bank
deposit paperwork.

This sum of ($10,200,000.00) is still sitting
in the bank and the interest is rolled over with the principal sum at
the end of each year. No one will come forward to claim it. According to
the law of Cote d’Ivoire, at the expiration of 10{TEN} years, the money
will be reverted to Cote d’Ivoire government if nobody claims it.

Consequently,
my proposal is that I will like you as a foreigner to stand in as the
next of kin to deceased person for the fact that you have same last name
with him so that this money will not be reverted by the government. If
this request matches with your inward intention for success and
greatness, then you are urged to make a quick response indicating your
interest and readiness to participate and work with me to make this
successful.

Please observe utmost confidentiality, and be rest
assured that this transaction would be most profitable for both of us
because I shall require your assistance to invest my share in your
country. In your return mail, please do forward your information as
listed below if you are willing to complete this transaction with me, to
enable me put the total fund in your name for claim as the next of kin
to the deceased person:

Your full name:
Your contact address:
Your phone number:
Your age:

I wait for your urgent reply.

Regards Mrdavid Albert,

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