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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: "Frank William" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrfrankwilliam56@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2017 22:05:03 -0400
Subject: Greetings to you and happy new day

Greeting to you,
 
I am Mr. Frank William, a personal account manager to Late Eng r. Hernandez, who died with his family in the missing Malaysian Air crash
 
of 2014. His account with us is in intestate with no claim his fixed deposit of Us$12.5M.
 
I have been mandated by the Bank Management as his personal account officer, to present his relative or next of kin.
 
I have searched through notary register of his country here all to no avail and lately the internet for name match. You have the same last
 
name with my late client, so I wish to present you to the Bank as his only relative and next of kin.
 
kindly contact me for more details, terms and condition shall be clarified upon your response. There is no risk whatsoever to this
 
transaction as I have all papers and documents to pose of your the inheritance to this. Please Send all further replies to my private e-
 
address : mrfrankwilliam56@gmail.com
 
I wait for your prompt response.
 
My regards,
Mr. Frank William.

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