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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: "Pablo Rio Benitez" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <pablo@europedefencelawfirm.com>
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2020 19:47:37 +0200
Subject: ?[NO]Hello

Hello

Firstly, I must solicit your confidence in this notice; this is by virtue of its nature as being utterly confidential and most personal. Though I know that information of this magnitude will make anyone apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you that all will be well at the end of the day as you read on.

Let me start by first introducing myself properly to you. It may surprise you receiving this letter from me, since there was no previous correspondence between us. My name is Pablo Rio Benitez Esq. a personal Attorney to Late Ms. Mariam

My purpose of contacting you is for you to help secure and claim the fund left behind by my late client, to avoid it being confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Bank where this fund valued €6,800,000.00 (Six Million Eight Hundred Thousand Euros) deposited by my client before her death with your name as the next of kin.

The Bank has issued me a notice twice before and now the last notice to contact the next of kin or the account will be declared unserviceable and the fund diverted to the Bank treasury for the government. So far all my efforts to get a hold of someone related to the woman in other to find you have proved abortive. And now I have contacted you as the name given to me by my late client. I am actually asking for your consent immediately to present you to the Bank as the Next of Kin/beneficiary of my late client's fund, since your name and address is the same name as given to me by my late client, so that the proceeds of this account will be paid to your account in your country as her wish.

All the legal documentations to back up your claim as my client's next of Kin, I shall provide from the right offices. All I require is your honest cooperation and support to do the wish of my late client as she had wanted me to do. Note that I have written you three different times before without any reply and this is the fourth time.

I wish to point out that she want 20% of this money to be shared among CHARITY Organization’s in your country, while the remaining 80% is shared between us 60% for you and 20% for me as directed by late Ms. Mariam which I will share 10% from the 20% I received to the CHARITY ORGANIZATION HERE IN SPAIN every month until it finishes and 10% for myself. This claim is entirely risk free. I will use my position as my client’s attorney to guarantee the successful execution of this transaction lawfully. So if you are interested to make your claim, please contact me via TEL: +34 632 392 954 / +34 910 916 632 FAX: +34 910 916 632 or email: pablo@europedefencelawfirm.com or europedefence@consultant.com by STATING YOUR FULL NAMES TO CONFIRM THAT YOUR ARE THE RIGHT PERSON THAT GOT MY LETTER. Upon your response, I shall then provide you with more details her WILL copies and relevant documents that will help you understand this transaction well, which will follow on the request of the !
bank as regards to the bank inheri

This inheritance will be done under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you and me from any breach of the law here or in your country. However, if this inheritance offends your moral ethics, do accept my sincere apology.

If on the contrary you wish to achieve your claim, kindly get back to me with your interest for further explanations.

Incase you don’t write or speak English you can write me in your language and I will do the translation here.

Kindest Regards
Pablo Rio Benitez Esq

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