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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: "Mrs.Zuzan Hazem" <mrs.zuzan_hazem@sify.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:56:21 -0800 (PST)
Subject: I NEED YOUR URGENT REPLY CONFIDENTIAL PLEASE


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Dear Friend,                                          
 
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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