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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 JAMES MICHEAL" <mrmichaeljames56@gmail.com>
Date: 24 Sep 2018 23:00:02 +0000
Subject: I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE.

I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE.
Attention: My dear,

How are you?. I am writing you this message with Assurance and Guarantee. My Name is JAMES MICHEAL. I am the Account Manager in our Bank Department. My dear during our Bank account auditing, We have discover this Fund in the Savings account the sum of ( $8,500,000.00 ) belonging to Late (Mr. Martin ) whose surname are related with your surname from your country. He died in a Car Accident with his wife since 2014 while visiting a neighboring country on vacation.

Since the death of my client I have been looking for any of his family relations who will stand as the beneficiary for the claims of this fund in our Bank. I contacted you because you bear the same surname with my late client. So I want you to stand as the beneficiary of this fund so that our Bank will transfer this fund immediately to your account in your country. I have all the document of this fund intact. My dear I strongly believe that immediately i submit your name to our Bank Department as the beneficiary of my late client, Our Bank Department will immediately process the transfer fund immediately in your Account in your country without any delay because this fund has been in our Bank Department for long time without any claim by the beneficiary.

My dear i will stand by you in this transfer in our Bank Department and I want you to be rest assured that immediately i submit your name as the beneficiary of this fund then our Bank Department will process for the transfer immediately in your country. My dear Immediately I hear from you I will give you all the information details about this Fund with the Bank contact information. My dear be rest assured that this transfer will only take 3 days if I submit your name to the Bank as the beneficiary of this fund.

I wait urgently to hear from you through my private email here ( mrmjamesmichal@gmail.com )

Sincerely,
JAMES MICHEAL (Account Manager)

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