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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: Mrs Zuzan Family <mrs.zuzan.family@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 19:25:21 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: I NEED YOUR URGENT REPLY CONFIDENTIAL PLEASE




Dear Friend,

My name is Mrs Zuzan Hazem.I am the manager of auditing and accounting department of BANK OF AFRICA (B.O.A) here in Ouagadougou , Burkina Faso . In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of US$10.m dollars (Ten Million US dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer (MR. RICHARD BURSON from Florida, U.S.A) who died along with his entire family on October 1999 in a plane crash. For more information’s about the crash you can visit this site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/502503.stm

Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we can not release it unless some body applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines and laws but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this business proposal to you, so that the money can be release to you as the next of kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody will come for it and we don't want this money to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed dormant fund.

The banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money remained unclaimed after eleven years the money will be transferred into the bank treasury as unclaimed dormant fund. The request of foreigner as next of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and a Burkinabe can not stand as next of kin to a foreigner.

I agreed that 40% of this money will be for you as a respect to the provision of a foreign account, 10% will be set aside for expenses incurred during the business and 50% would be for me. Thereafter, I will visit your country for disbursement according to the percentage indicated Therefore, to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to you arranged, you must apply first to the bank as relation or next of kin to the deceased customer with a text of application that I will send to you, but before i send to you the text of application form, I will like you to send me the following information

1.NAME IN FULL:................................
2.ADDRESS:.......................................
3.NATIONALITY:...................................
4.AGE:.............................................
5.Sex..............................................
6.OCCUPATION:......................................
7.MARITAL STATUS:..................................
8.PRIAVTE PHONE NO............................................
9.PRIVATE FAX NO:.............................................

so i will like you to send to me those information’s for easy and effective communication.

Upon receipt of your reply, I will send to you by fax or email the text of the application form. I will not fail to bring to your notice that this transaction is hitch-free and that you should not entertain any atom of fear as all required arrangements have been made for the transfer. You should contact me immediately as soon as you receive this letter, if only you are interested and ready to help. Trusting to hear from you immediately.
Yours Faithfully,
MRS. ZUZAN HAZEM
MANAGER AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT
BANK OF AFRICA



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