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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Mark Benson" <drmargretroy@gmail.com>
Reply-To: filleoffice711@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2022 16:34:58 +0100
Subject: @

Hello Dear Friend,

I am Mark Benson, Customer Relationship Managing Director of Global
Corporate and Commercial Banking, Goza Bank. I am a very good friend
of the late Engr. Bruce Williams, who is a national of your country.
He died on July 7, 2015 in a horrific car accident in London which
happened on July 7, 2015 late evening. The late Engr. Bruce Williams
was an oil consultant and worked with the British Petroleum
Corporation during his lifetime, he made a (fixed) deposit with Goza
Bank calculated to a total value of $15,000,000.00 USD (fifteen
million US dollars). I was opportuned to be late for Engr. Bruce
Williams Account Manager and good friend and since the death of Engr.
Bruce, which includes the wife and daughter on their way back from a
picnic before the car crashed, I did my best to look for at least one
of his relatives who could receive his funds because his wife, who is
next of kin, is also involved in the car accident that claimed their
lives.

After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to find his
relatives on the Internet, but no luck until a friend of mine who is a
priest suggested that I contact someone who can use the money wisely
and as well help humanity, hence after 2 days of prayers for divine
directions he recommended you for this opportunity and he said you can
be trusted as an honest and sincere individual who can manage and
invest the funds wisely instead of redistributing the funds to the
British government who made no effort for the late Engr. Bruce
Williams invested funds.

Therefore, I am contacting you to request your full assistance in
repatriating the funds left behind by Late Engr. Bruce Williams before
the bank declares the funds and passes them through a probate bank
account, which could then result in the permanent confiscation of the
account and the total amount of US$15,000,000.00 (fifteen million US
dollars) .
As the account manager, the bank gave me the final mandate to provide
the beneficiary or the POD to the account within 14 working days,
otherwise they reserve the right to declare the deceased investment
funds as a probate account and once that happens the funds will be
forfeited.
Therefore, since I have been unable to locate next of kin for several
years now, I request your consent to present you as the beneficiary or
the POD to the late Engr. Bruce Williams since you share some common
similarity and the process of presenting you as the next of kin will
be done under legal procedures. After this process, the amount of
$15,000,000.00 can be paid out to you as the beneficiary and both of
us can split the funds in an equal proportion of 50% for me and 50%
for you.

With your cooperation and assistance, we will hire a lawyer to obtain
the necessary legal documents that can be used to substantiate the
claim in your favor and all I require of you now is your
honest/sincere cooperation to enable us to conduct this agreement. I
guarantee that this will be performed under a lawful arrangement and I
ensure that you are protected against any violation of the law.
Please get back to me with your information below though, to allow us
to discuss further and thank you for your understanding with my
proposal.

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