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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: Richard Alex <montoyact9@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 06 Nov 2017 01:45:11 -0500
Subject: Dear Dudley

Dear Dudley,

Good day and how are you? I am writing you regarding an investment made
with my financial institution in 2011 and have been under my management.
A customer by name Mr. Dudley, seeking specialized private financial
services contacted us for advice on how to invest his funds tax free. I
explained the options available and he chose one.

In line with his request we floated a company, made the deposit in the
company’s name and issued Bearer Shares to keep the ownership of the
company anonymous. A bearer instrument is a document that indicates that
the bearer of the document has title to property, such as shares or
bonds. Bearer instruments differ from normal registered instruments, in
that no records are kept of who owns the underlying property, or of the
transactions involving transfer of ownership.
Whoever physically holds the bearer Share papers owns the property.

His plan was to liquidate the shares at a later date when he may be in
need of funds. Later in 2011 the client instructed me to assist him to
leverage a few shares to raise a Standby Letter of Credit in Europe for
his business. We completed the whole details and tried to contact him
but failed. Unfortunately, we discovered later that year that he passed
away in June of that year, leaving no next of kin.

In line with regulations, standard practice dictates that we declare and
report the portfolio to the appropriate authorities. This will result in
the deposit entering their reserve ratio accounting system and the
portfolio will be out of my hands.

The world of Private investment banking in particular, is fraught with
rewards for those who sit upon certain chairs and oversee certain
portfolios. You should have begun by now to put together the general
direction of what I propose.

As I write you today, I alone have got the deposit details and I can
take possession of the Shares with your collaboration. This is my
proposal to you. I will enter your name as our client’s next of kin in
his deposit documents and simply present you as the beneficiary to the
trustee. We will liquidate and share the proceeds in the ratio of 70%
for me and 30% for you.

I would like to assure you that this project is 100% risk-free as long
as we both remain discreet and hold the information with high level
confidentiality. I would have gone ahead to do this on my own, but it
will not be tidy as the trustee knows that I am the financial manager of
the investment.

You will easily pass as the beneficiary with rights to liquidate after I
enter your name in his account opening documents as his next of kin
because you share the same name. I assure you that I will have the
proceeds released to you within ten working days, from the date we agree
to work together. I have given my proposal a serious thought. I want you
to think through it and send me your full name and telephone number to
discuss further.

Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Richard.

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