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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: "rexlawsonuke" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <rexlawsonuke1@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2010 11:07:57 +0100
Subject: HELLO

>From Dr.Rex Lawson Uke

Dear Sir/Madam,

REQUEST FOR AN URGENT CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP.

After due deliberation with my colleagues, I have decided to forward to you this business proposal. We want a reliable person who could assist us to transfer the sum of Twenty Million Five Hundred thousand United States Dollars ($20,500,000) into his / her account.
This fund resulted by way of gratification from a contract awarded by us under the budget allocation to my Ministry and this bill has been approved for payment by the concerned Ministries.

The contract has since been executed, commissioned and the contractors company, paid off. We are left with the balance of US$20.5M which was given to us by the company for influencing the contract in their favour amidst heavy competition from rival companies. But under our protocol division, civil servants are forbidden to operate or own foreign accounts this is why I am contacting you to be our custodian for this fund.

As you may want to know and to make you less curious, I got your address from adverts in the business directory that portrayed your establishment in good light. I am the Chief Accountant/Internal Auditor of the Contract Award Committee( CAC )of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC).This transaction is very much free from all sorts of RISKS and TROUBLE from my government. We the N.N.P.C. Officials involved in this deal have put in many years in service to this Ministry.

We have been exercising patience for this opportunity for so long and to most of us this is a life time opportunity we cannot afford to miss. You need not to worry about the responsibilities of transferring this fund into your account, for all the administrative steps needed for the transfer of this fund into your designated bank account will be done by me. I and my colleagues have agreed to COMPENSATE you duly if agreement is reached by both of us. I and one of my colleagues involved in this deal will come to your country to arrange for our share, upon the confirmation from you that the money has been credited into your nominated bank account.

We have agreed to offer you 25% of the transferred sum, where 10% shall be set aside for incidental expenses (Internal and External) between in the course of the transaction. You will be mandated to remit the balance to other account in due course. Consequent upon your acceptance of this proposal, kindly confirm your interest by, your indication by revert Telephone to me of your sincere and serious interest will enable me fax you the PROCEDURE FOR OPERATION. If my line is busy, please keep trying you will surely get through.

NOTE: In the event of your inability to handle this transaction please inform us so that we can look for another reliable person who can assist in this respect. It might surprise you why we choose you and trusted you for this transaction.

Yes, we believe that good friends can be discovered and business like this can not be realized without trust. This is why we have decided to trust you for this transaction. We are looking forward to doing this transaction with you. Be further informed that every ones interest and security had been considered before you were contacted, so be rest assured and feel free to go into this transaction with us.

But let Honesty and Trust be our watchword throughout this transaction and your prompt reply will be highly appreciated.

Thank you and God bless.

Best Regards,
Dr.Rex Lawson Uke

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