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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: "Mr. Thomas Jenkins" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <pthomasjenkins@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2017 05:29:06 -0700
Subject: PLEASE I NEED YOUR URGENT ASSISTANCE

FROM: Tesco Bank
Interpoint Building
22 Haymarket Yards
Edinburgh
EH12 5BH

Dear Friend,

My name is Thomas Jenkins. I work with Tesco Bank, one of the top Ten Bank here in London as a Executive Director in charge of Audit and accounts. I discovered an abandoned sum of (Twenty Eight Million British Pounds) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers Late Dr. Erin Jacobson, an American citizen who unfortunately lost his life and his entire family in Montana plane crash on March 23, 2009, on their way to a group ski vacation.The choice of contacting you is aroused from the geographical nature of where you live, particularly due to the sensitivity of this transaction and the confidentiality herein. Now our bank has been waiting for any of the relatives to come up for the claim but nobody has done that. I personally tried to locate any member of his family but have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for 7 years now, i have also checked the deposit documents and discovered that he did not declare any next of kin on the deposit.

Now the Management of our bank has instructed me to look for the next of kin or they will convert the funds into the Government Treasury Account as unclaimed funds and the funds will be wasted. Therefore, I cannot claim these funds without presenting a foreigner to stand as next of kin. This is reason why I contacted you to seek your consent to present you as the next of kin so that the funds will be release to you, attention and recognition. Please grant me the benefit of doubt and hear me out, then we sharing pattern will be 50% for me and 50% for you because I am not a greedy person and is a deal between me and you.

I have employed the service of an Attorney who will secure all necessary legal documents that could be used to back up this claim. All the attorney need to do is to fill in your names to the documents and legalize it in the Court here to prove you as the legitimate next of kin to the late depositor Dr. Erin Jacobson then the bank will release the funds to you as the rightful beneficiary.

This is a fair deal without any risk attached either on your part or on my part as long as we comply with the laws governing the claiming of funds in our establishment. All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us see this deal through, and with my position in the bank as a bank Director, I will do every thing possible to protect your interest and to make sure everything workout successfully.

If you are interested in this deal, kindly send me your complete information, your full names and address, Your Private telephone and Fax numbers, and Cell phone so that the attorney will start processing the necessary paperwork that would facilitate the release of the funds
to you.

Best regards,
Mr. Thomas Jenkins
Executive Director accounts

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