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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. Edward Thurman" <info@xemr.net>
Reply-To: edwardthurman81@gmail.com
Date: 10 Apr 2017 18:11:30 +1000
Subject: Best Regards,

I am Mr. Edward Thurman, an Accountant with Lloyds Bank and am
the personal Account Manager to Late Mr. Gregory Hyphen.

On the 21st of April 2011, Mr. Gregory Hyphen (Herein after shall
be referred to as my client), his wife and their two children
were involved in a car accident in London. Unfortunately they all
lost their lives in the event of the accident, since then I have
made several inquiries to locate any of my client's extended
relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful. After these several
Unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his relatives over the
Internet, to locate any member of His family but of no avail,
hence I contacted you to stand as his next of kin.

I contacted you to assist in repatriating the money in addition,
property left behind by my client before they get Confiscated or
declared non-serviceable by the bank where this huge deposits
were lodged. Particularly, Lloyds Bank, where the deceased had an
account valued at about Four Million Great British Pounds.
Consequently, the bank issued me a notice to provide the Next of
Kin or have the account confiscated within the next twenty
official working days.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over
2 years now I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin
of the deceased based on the fact that you are a foreigner so
that the proceeds of this account valued at about Four Million
Great British Pounds can be paid to you and then you and I can
share the money. 50% to me and 40% to you, while 10% should be
for expenses or tax as your government may require. An attorney
will be contracted to help re-validate and notarize all the
necessary legal documents that can be used to back up any claim
we make. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us
sees this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed
under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any
breach of the law.

To enable us discuss further, I would like you to send me the
following information so I can open up a next of kin file on your
behalf here in the bank.

1. Name in full:
2. Address:
3. Nationality:
4. Age/Sex:
5. Occupation:
6. Direct Phone number:

Best regards,
Mr. Edward Thurman
+44-703-194-3317

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