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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: "Director of Operations" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mosesdirector@yahoo.cn>
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:07:01 -0700
Subject: Re:

Dear Partner,

Greetings to you.

I have a business proposal for you. My name is Moses Wong the Director of
operations of my bank. My client a Businessman and a Merchant,made a fixed
deposit for Ten Million United States dollars for 36 months with my bank.

Upon maturity several notices were sent to him. It was later discovered that
he and his entire family were killed in suicide bombing leaving no heir/family
member to these fund. According to the to the laws of my country at the expiration
3 years which has currently exceeded, the funds will revert to the ownership of the
Hong Kong Government if nobody applies to claim the funds.

I have already succeeded in transferring the funds out of my country to an
online bank awaiting claims for an heir with same surname(where you come in)
to help me apply to take custody of the funds, my proposal is to put you as next
of kin and have the funds released to you from the online bank for a share
in the ratio 50% each. All paper works would be put in place from my end to
ensure a legal inheritance.

However I would be waiting your response and assurance that you can be of
partnership with me in making the project a reality. Should you be interested
in executing this proposal with me; please kindly reply me with your full
name and current address and telephone number on my e-mail address below:
wongmose20@yahoo.com.hk

Finally after that I shall provide you with more details of this whole operation.

Sincerely,
Moses Wong.
Email:wongmose20@yahoo.com.hk

Anti-fraud resources: