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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <craigwilliams@inbox.lv>
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2017 16:32:31 +0100
Subject: We shall discuss the percentage as soonas I hear from you

 
  Attention:  Sir
 
    I’m  Graig  Williams  an  employee  of  ING  BANKbranch  here
  in  Netherlands.  I  have  urgent  and  very  confidential
  businessproportion  for  you.  I  got  your  contact  from  the
  World  Trade  Centre  Online  Webdirectory  here  in  Netherlands.
  In  January  2011  a  Consultant/Contractor  Made  anumbered  time
  (fixed  deposited)  for  twelve  calendar  months  valued
  at(USD$3,500,000  million  United  States  Dollars)  in  a
  domiciliary  account  inmy  branch.  Upon  maturity,  I  sent  a
  routine  notification  of  account  statues  to  hisforwarding
  address  but  got  no  reply,  after  two  months,  we  sent  a
  reminder  ofsame  letter  and  finally  we  discovered  from  his
  contact  employers,  SofimationOy,  a  Finland  Company  based  in
  here  in  Netherlands  that  Lewis  Andrews  Died  incar
  accident.  After  further  investigation,  I  found  out  that  he
  did  notleave  a  WILL  and  all  attempts  to  trace  next  of  kin
  were  fruitless.  I  thereforemade  further  investigation  and
  discovered  that  he  did  not  declare  any  Next  ofKin  in  all  his
  official  documents.
 
 
  This  sum  of  USD$3,500,000  is  still  floating  in  our  bank  and
  the  interest  isbeing  rolled  over  with  the  principal  sum  at
  the  end  of  each  year.  No  one  wouldcome  forward  to  claim  it,
  according  to  Dutch  Law,  at  the  expiration  of  7  (six)years;
  the  money  will  revert  to  the  ownership  of  the  Dutch
  government  if  nobodyapplies  to  claim  these  funds.  Consequent
  upon  the  above,  my  proposal  is  that  Iwould  like  you  to
  stand  in  as  the  Next  of  Kin
 
 
    I  will  quickly  work  out  the  full  documentation  and  change
  the  nameto  yours  and  transfer  of  the  funds
 
    into  yournominated  account  anywhere.  We  shall  discuss
  the  percentage  as  soonas  I  hear  from  you   
 
Thanks    Graig  Williams

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