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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: "Platon Lebedev"<platonllebedev@poland.zzn.com>
Reply-To: <platonlebedev@att.net>
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2010 11:47:57 +0200
Subject: Re: I hope all is well with you

Engineer Platon Leonidovich Lebedev
Shareholder Russian Oil,
Can You Manager Funds
Contact Tel +48 525 614005

Top of the day,

I am Platon Leonidovich Lebedev, a major share holder of Russian Oil an international affiliate of Statoil Company based in Russia and a close pal to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former chief executive officer of oil giant Yukos

Due to ill Health I have esophageal cancer, it has defiled all forms of medical treatment and according to the medical experts it is a terminal illness so I do not know how much longer I have to live.

I never had any real Friends in my lifetime because I never really cared for anyone but my business. But now I know that there is more to life than making all the money in the world. However, certain unfolding events has made it very necessary for me to seek your help, my company is fighting investigations and bankruptcy due to the Yukos Oil problems in Russia, most of my assets were seized due to this case.

Recently I received a bulk payment for my last contract supply with the South African Government. I instructed them specifically not to send the funds to Russia because of the problems, but that the funds to be deposited with a bank on hold. A huge cash deposit of Thirty-Five Million dollars was domiciled with a bank to my knowledge only.

This is the last of my assets, now that my health has deteriorated so badly, I cannot do this myself anymore, I therefore need you as a partner because you are a neutral party to help me collect this funds deposited with the security company and disburse it secretly based on instructions because my time is short I have decided to give most of this money to charity organizations, as I want this to be one of the last good deeds I do on earth. For all your good efforts you will receive 15% of the Funds and must disburse the rest based on instructions.

I want you to understand my seriousness in this case and if you can handle the job kindly contact me on the email below for security purposes. I have all the necessary documents on hand; please contact me ASAP so we can discuss more.
Thank you for your anticipated cooperation. If you are not interested, please keep it to yourself and do not respond.

Best Regards,
Engr: Platon Leonidovich Lebedev
E-mail (platonlebedev@att.net)

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