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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: "carlos munez" (may be fake)
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:52:53 +0100
Subject: hi

Barrister Carlos Munez
E-mail: carlosjmunez@aol.es
Dear Attn,
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, but I am assuring you that all will be well at the end of the day.
Let me start by first introducing myself properly to you. It may surprise you receiving this letter from me, since there was no previous correspondence between us. My name is Mr. Carlos Munez the Lawyer to the Late Mr. Lindig Barr from U S A; I’m a legal practitioner here in Madrid, Spain.
My purpose of contacting you is for you to help secure the funds left behind by my late client, to avoid it being confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Bank where this fund valued 9,500,000.00( Nine Million Five Hundred Thousand Euros) deposited by my client before her death.
The Bank has issued me a notice to contact the next of kin to my client or the account will be declared unserviceable and the fund diverted to the Bank treasury, So far all my efforts to get a hold of someone related to her has proved abortive. Hence, I have contacted you. I am actually seeking your consent to present you to the Bank as the Next of Kin/beneficiary of my late client's fund, since my client died without a WILL, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to your account.
All the legal documentations to back up your claim as my client's Next of Kin I shall provide them. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us achieve this transaction.
I wish to point out that I want 10% of this money to be shared among the charity Organizations, while the remaining 90% is shared equally between us. This proposition is entirely risk free. I will use my position as my client’s lawyer and legal practitioner to guarantee the successful execution of this transaction. If you are interested, please contact me via my direct email: carlosjmunez@aol.es , upon your response, I shall then provide you with more details that will help you understand this transaction well.
The intended transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you and me from any infraction of the law. However, if this business proposition offends your moral ethics, do accept my sincere apology.
If on the contrary you wish to achieve this goal with me, kindly get back to me with your interest for further explanation.
Best Regards
Carlos Munez [Esq.]



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