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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: "Roger Weston" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <s_rwest1@live.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 05:13:43 +0100
Subject: was your reply

Good Day,


I am Roger Weston,staff of Bristol & West Private
Banking. I am contacting you concerning a deceased
customer and an investment he placed under our banks
management three years ago. I would respectfully
request that you keep the contents of this mail
confidential and respect the integrity of the
information you come by as a result of this mail.I am
making this contact with you based on the committee's
need for an individual/company who is willing to
assist me to stand as the next of kin to my deceased
client.


Being the deceased financial consultant before the
untimely and sudden death and since i am the only one
who has the knowledge where these funds (60million
british pounds sterling) was moved to when the
deceased demanded it be moved from our office Bristol
& West to a security company,i can move this deal
forward to it's successful end once we conclude to
work together.What I expect from you is trust and
commitment.There is a reward for this project and it
is a task well worth undertaking.According to
practice, the Security firm will by the end of this
financial year broadcast a request for statements of
claim to Bristol & West Private Bank, failing to
receive viable claims they will most probably revert
the deposit back to Bristol & West Private Bank. What
I propose now is that if you are the relative to my
client please let me know. I alone have the deposit
details and they will release the deposit to no one
unless I instruct them to do so. I alone know of the
existence of this deposit for as far as Bristol & West
Private Bank is concerned, the transaction with our
late customer concluded when I sent the funds to the
security firm, all outstanding interactions in
relation to the file are just customer services and
due process. The Security firm has no single idea of
what is the history or nature of the deposit. They are
simply awaiting instructions to release the deposit to
any party that comes forward. This is the situation.
This bank has spent great amounts of money trying to
track this man¡¦s family; they have investigated for
months and have found no family. The investigation has
come to an end. My proposal; you share similar details
to the late fellow; I am prepared to place you in a
position to instruct the Securities firm to release
the deposit to you as the closest surviving relation.
Upon receipt of the deposit, I am prepared to share
the money with you in half. That is: I will simply
nominate you as the next of kin and have them release
the deposit to you. We share the proceeds 50/50.I
would have gone ahead to ask the funds be released to
me, but that would have drawn a straight line to me
and my involvement in claiming the deposit. I assure
you that I could have the deposit released to you
within a few days.

I have evaluated the risks and the only risk I have
here is for you to betray my confidence.
Hope to hear from you soon.

Roger Weston

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