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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: Matthew Clayton <mattoffice02@yahoo.com.hk>
Reply-To: mattinfobarclays@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:40:22 -0700
Subject: Re:of immense benefit



THIS IS NOT A SALES, SOLICITATION OR SPAM.

I am a staff of Barclays Bank London. I am writing on behalf of my client
following an Opportunity in my office that will be of immense benefit to my
client and us. My client was a top government official in another country, who
banked with us in the UK. I was his personal banker, who kept all his accounts
and monitored all his investment for him here in the UK.

My client’s bank account with us has been frozen due to some diminutive
investigation on my client. My client is a very rich man, worth over $4
billion USD. A lot of these funds are frozen in different accounts due to the
reason I gave above, and we need to transfer some funds to an unnamed account
only I and my client know about, into your account.

Now! All we need from you is to let us know if you are interested before we
give you more information.

If you decide to help us, I will assure you that you would gain a lot from my
client, as he is a very generous man with the fear of God in him. The reason I
am doing this for him is because he has helped my family and I, in fact my
life changed when I met this man and I am 100% convinced that yours would
change dramatically if you work with us.

The amount in question is very large so you alone cannot receive this cash. I
intend to use 4-5 people to conclude this transfer and the process shouldn’t
take more than 5 days. For transparency I will fully outline the sharing
pattern, we have agreed to give you a non-negotiable 10%, of the total money
transferred and believe me, it is a lot of cash. Once the funds are in your
account, we would then meet in a suitable place to discuss final disbursement
according to the percentages indicated above.

Honesty is the success of this business and trust is our watchword in this
transaction. I guarantee you that this transaction will be executed under a
legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.
Please get in touch with me urgently by E-mail: cmattinfoprivate@yahoo.com.hk

Note: This transaction is confidential and risk free. All necessary
arrangement for the smooth transfer of these funds to you has been finalized.
We will discuss much in details when I receive your response.

Best regards
Mr. Matthew.

****************PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL**************
This e-mail and any attached files are confidential and may be legally
privileged.
If you are not the addressee, any disclosure, reproduction, copying,
distribution, or other dissemination or use of this communication is strictly
prohibited.



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