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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: Denis Owen <dens.owens@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2021 14:27:24 +0700
Subject: Hello

Hello,

I am Denis Owen, a consultant to a late expatriate. I am contacting you
because I have a Greek who was working with a construction company in the
North Eastern part of Nigeria which was the base of the dreaded terrorist
group Boko Haram. He and 6 other foreigners were kidnapped by the terrorist
group and eventually executed in 2013. Mr. Tassos Christodulakis was so
unlucky to have been captured with six other foreigners and later killed.
He has $3.8M debts owed him by the Federal Government which they have now
asked me as his consultant to present any of his next of kin, partner or
representative to receive the money since the mandatory years have elapsed.
And unfortunately, he did not provide any next of kin in all his documents,
of which I have tried to locate any, without success.

We shall procure all the legal documents with which to claim the fund
according to the law. I will appreciate it if you go through this site to
confirm the story.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/03/20133915595276511.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/17/world/africa/nigeria-kidnappings/

The government has given order to the holding bank to urgently release the
money after approvals to the next of kin. We shall share the money, 50% to
me and 50% to you. I guarantee you that this will be executed under a
legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. As
soon as you avail your consent and reply back, I will give you more
information .

Yours Sincerely,

Denis Owen

Anti-fraud resources: