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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: "Herbert Nwosu" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sbxass123@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2016 01:50:36 +0200
Subject: I write to solicit your assistance in a funds transfer

Attention,

I write to solicit your assistance in a funds transfer involving Nine Hundred and Eighty Thousand United States Dollars ($980,000.00) from my bank.This fund has been stashed out of the excess profit made in year 2014 by my branch office.

I had already submitted an approved end of the year report to my head office and they will never know of this excess. I have since then, placed this amount on an Escrow Call Account without a beneficiary.Upon your response, I will configure your name on our database as holder of the Escrow Call Account. I will then guide you on how to apply to my head office for the Account Closure/ bank-to-bank remittance of the funds to your designated bank account.

I hope you understand my situation,I am critically ill that is why I contacted you to finalize this transaction to enable me have a very good medical treatment. I will give you further details upon your acceptance of this proposal. I also intend that you shall retain 40% of the funds for your efforts while 60% shall be for me. Kindly forward your response to indicate your interest.

Thanks for your assistance,

Best Regards,
Mr.Herbert Nwosu
Standard Chartered Bank

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