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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: Hermann Funkel <funkelherman202@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2021 06:54:35 -0800
Subject: Confidential


Hello dear,
Good day and how are you doing over there?
I know this letter must come to you as a big surprise, but I believe it is
only a day that people meet and become great friends and business partners.
This is a personal proposal letter directed to you and you alone, and I
request that it be treated as such. One has no doubt in your ability to
handle an international business of considerable TRUST, which may form the
bedrock of an extensive business partnership in the future.

I am assured of your capability and reliability to champion this business
opportunity. In my department I discovered an abandoned sum of $48.7
million U.S.A dollars (Forty Eight Million Seven Thousand U.S.A Dollars).
In an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers that shares the
same surname with you, a secretive multi-millionaire who died in a deadly
Train Crash on the 24 July 2013 in Santiago de Compostela Spain.

PROPOSITION: Since we got information about his death, we have been
expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we
cannot release it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation
to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines, but unfortunately
we learnt that all his supposed next of kin died alongside with him at the
train crash on summer holiday trip leaving nobody behind for the claim. It
is therefore upon this discovery that I decided to make this business
proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relation
to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is
coming for it and I don’t want this money to go into the bank treasury
account as unclaimed bill.

Sharing Arrangements:
The Banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money remains
unclaimed after five years, the money will be transferred into the Bank
treasury account as an unclaimed fund. The request of a foreigner as next
of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the customer was a
foreigner, and a citizen of my Country cannot stand as next of kin to a
foreigner. I agree that 40% of this money will be for you as foreign
partner, in respect to the provision of a foreign account, while 60% would
be for me. Thereafter I will visit your country for disbursement according
to the percentages indicated.

EXECUTION OF THE PROPOSED DEAL: Therefore to enable the immediate transfer
of this fund to your account as arranged, you must apply first to the bank
with an Inheritance application form as next of kin /claimant of the
deceased.
As soon as you reply with your full contact details I will give you a call
for more discussion in details on how this business could be concluded in a
couple of days or weeks without any hitch or whatsoever.

Yours faithfully
Funkel Hermann

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