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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: Richard Harrison <richardharrison6667@gmail.com>
Reply-To: richardharrison22@yahoo.com
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2022 16:06:08 -0700
Subject: URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL


Hello,
My name is Mr. Richard Harrison and I work with a prime bank here in
Istanbul, Turkey. I would need your consent to present you as next of kin
to our late customer MR.HEATH LIAM who died during the March 11th 2011
Earthquake disaster in Japan whilst on a business trip. He was a wealthy
businessman who deposited £ 26,000,000.00 (Twenty Six Million Great British
Pounds) in our Bank. He died without any registered next of kin as he was
long divorced and had no child. I was his account officer and have in my
possession all the documents required to present you as his next of kin to
claim this money.

I contacted you due to the need to involve a foreigner because the
management of the bank cannot approve this fund to indigenous name hence
the former owner of the account was a foreigner and these funds can only be
approved to a foreigner who has correct information of the account which I
will give to you. Upon completion of the transaction, 50% of the money will
be for me, 40% for you while 10% shall be given to two top bank officials
that will help us perfect the transaction to successful completion. Let us
utilize this opportunity because it does not always come. A lot of
customers open private accounts with different banks without the knowledge
of their families and when they die, such money will be lost to the Bank
forever unless someone comes to claim it. This kind of business goes on in
Banks all over the world without people knowing and this is how a lot of
Bank Directors make so much money silently. On your confirmation of this
message and indicating your interest and for more details.

Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Richard Harrison

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