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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: "ASTOU SENEB" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <astouseneb@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2019 14:38:36 -0400
Subject: Good Morning

Dear Friend


It is with trust and confidence that i write to make this urgent business proposal to you is about one of our deceased customers who happened to be one of the high profile personalities I have worked for while he was an investor with our bank because in 2003 he came to our bank here to engage in business discussions with a financial portfolio of £50.7 million which he wished to have us turn over (invest) on his behalf. I was the officer assigned to his case.


We turned the money around various opportunities and made attractive margins for our first years of operation. In mid-2005, he asked that the money be liquidated for onward transfer because he needed to make an urgent investment requiring cash payments. I undertook all the processes and have the fund liquidated, and that was the last time we heard from him. I did everything humanly possible to track him down all to no avail, and since he listed no next of kin in his bio-data form I have no one to contact.


It was few years after his surprise disappearance that I stumbled upon the plane crash manifest where I discovered he actually died in the aforementioned plane crash in 2005. There is £50.7 Million plus the accrued interest abandoned in our bank all these years and now my worst nightmare is about to happen as the bank want to revert the funds back into our treasury as unclaimed fund and abandoned monies inline with our bank policy. What need to be done now is for me to insert your name from our system into his file as the heir and successor to the portfolio, and once that is done the money automatically become yours,


after-which I will guide you with information(s) and furnish you with documents to prove your right to the funds, and have the funds release to you as the rightful and legal heir for us to share equally.Please understand that I am basically aware it is not easy to trust anyone these days with scam, hoax, spam, ID thieves and hackers all over the net but when I saw your profile you seem like someone with some level of sensitivity, wisdom and intelligence as such I expect you to see beyond the above-listed elements and envisage a fortuitous prospect in this divine blessing.


There is a reward for this project and it is a task well worth undertaking. I have evaluated the risks and the only risk I foresee here is from you refusing to work with me and alerting my bank or mistake this proposal for a scam or hoax otherwise wealth is just around the corner for you and I to grab. Remain bless as I await your response

Yours sincerely,
Astou Seneb

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