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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: "Mr. Ernest Groth" <cdswanton01@gmail.com>
Reply-To: ernestgrt01@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2023 13:31:38 -0700
Subject: For Your Urgent Consideration.

Good day.

I hope my email finds you well.

Firstly, I must solicit for your confidence in this transaction; this is by virtue of its nature as being utterly confidential.

You may be surprised to receive such an email from someone you barely know. My name is Ernest Groth, a Business consultant and facilitator. It happened that a client of mine died last year in 2022 from a heart attack and few weeks before his death, he needed to make an urgent investment requiring cash payment in which he requested me to assist him to move the sum of US$32,500,000.00 to an open beneficiary account securely for the business deal. I personally facilitated the moving of this fund through a special security firm in Canada where his funds were to the Bank as per his instruction. The Canadian firm that moved this funds is an especially private firm that accepts deposits from high net worth individuals and blue chip corporations.

Before his untimely death, I had acted as his proxy for most of his business deals, especially those he wanted to remain anonymous and because he was a very meticulous person when it comes to business.

None of my client’s family or anyone else is aware of this deal because he used me as a proxy to move the funds.

Having made the Bank aware of his death recently, they have mandated me to present his heir/inheritor) for the claim of the deposited fund. Unfortunately, I do not know anyone related to him and as such there is no specific mentioning of a next of kin in all the documents that were used for the deposit with the Bank. Because my client died intestate and in order for this funds to be released, I have obtained the grant of letter of administration of the estate since I was involved in the process of moving the funds from Canada and depositing it with the current holding Bank.

My proposal therefore is to seek for your consent to present you as my late client Business associate/beneficiary for this claim so that the money would be released and transferred to you. I have exclusive access to the documents of the fund deposit with the Bank and it is my intention that we both benefit from this fund. If the money is not claimed, it will be escheat and nobody benefits from this.

In order to come up with the bank pre-requisite for the claim, I will explain to you, step by step process that we need to take before presenting you to the bank with all the necessary documentation; what I need from you is trust, confidentiality and your honest co-operation in this transaction if you are interested. I guarantee you that this transaction is 100% Risk free and would be executed under legitimate arrangement.

Please contact me at your earliest convenience using my private email ernestgrt01@gmail.com if you are interested and willing to work with me, send me your telephone number and name and I will reach out to you as soon as possible.

Kindest Regards

Ernest Groth.

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