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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: george ovia <georgeovia4@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2023 21:22:56 -0700
Subject: Fund transfer


Attention Sir/Madam,

Let me start by first introducing myself properly to you.
I am a Manager at First National Bank in South Africa. I came to know of
you in my private search for a reliable and reputable person to handle a
very confidential transaction which involves the transfer of a huge sum of
money to a foreign account requiring maximum confidence.

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

Though I know that a transaction of this magnitude will make
any one apprehensive and worried, I am assuring you that all
will be well at the end of the day. We have decided to contact you due to
the urgency of this transaction, as we have been reliably informed of its
swiftness and confidentiality.

A foreigner, Late Engineer William Adams, an oil Merchant /contractor with
the federal Government of South Africa Died three years ago in a ghastly
air crash, banked with us here at the First National Bank, Pretoria, and
had a closing balance of USD$26.5M (Twenty-Six Million , Five Hundred
Thousand United States Dollars) which the bank
now unquestionably expects to be claimed by any of his available foreign
next of kin or alternatively be donated to a discredited trust fund for
arms and ammunition at a military war college here in South Africa.

Fervent valuable efforts are being made by the First National Bank to get in
touch with any of late Engr. William Adams's next of kin (he had no known
wife and children) that the management under the influence of our chairman,
board of directors, Professor Van Wyk Andre, that an arrangement for the
fund to be declared "UNCLAIMED "and then be subsequently donated to the
trust fund for Arms
and Ammunition which will further enhance the course of war in Africa
and the world in general. In order to avert this negative development ,
myself and some of my trusted colleagues in the bank now seek for your
permission to have you stand as late Engr.Williams Adams’s next of kin, so
that the fund,[USD$26.5M], would be subsequently transferred and paid into
your bank account as the beneficiary next of kin. All documents and proves
to enable you to get this fund have been carefully worked out and we are
assuring you a 100% risk free involvement. Your share would be 30% of the
total amount. 10% has been set aside for expenses, while the rest would be
for me and my colleagues for our involvement and we wish to invest our
shares in the real estate /oil and gas business in your country.

If this proposal is OK by you and you do not wish to take advantage of
the trust we hope to bestow on you and your company, then kindly get to me
immediately via my private Email: y5125120@gmail.com and furnishing me with
your most confidential telephone, fax and numbers e-mail, so that i can
forward to you the relevant details of this transaction.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated co-operation.

George Ovia Jim

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