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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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Fraud email example:

From: "Mr.Peter Atsedewoin" <petatsede@tiscali.it> (may be fake)
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2005 03:44:53 +0100
Subject: 3rd February, 2005 Mail.

Mr.Peter Atsedewoin
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia
P.O.Box 255
Addis Ababa,Ethiopia.
Email: petatsede@tiscali.it

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Mr.Peter Atsedewoin, Bank Manager of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. This is an urgent and very confidential business proposition.

On June 6, 2000,a Foreign Oil consultant/contractor with the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Mr. Michael Foster made a numbered time(Fixed) Deposit for
twelve calendar months, valued at US$26,500,000.00,(Twenty-six Million, five hundred thousand Dollars) in my branch.

Upon maturity,I sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got no reply. After a month,we sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his contract employers, the National Petroleum Corporation that Mr. Michael Foster died from an automobile accident.

On further investigation,I found out that he died without making a WILL,and all attempts to trace his next of kin was fruitless.

I therefore made further investigation and discovered that Mr. Michael Foster did not declare any kin or relations in all his official documents,including his Bank Deposit paper work in my Bank here in Ethiopia.This sum of US$26,500,000.00 has carefully been fixed in my bank for safekeeping.

No one will ever come forward to claim it.According to Ethiopia Law, at the expiration of 5 (five) years, the money will revert to the ownership of the Government if nobody applies to claim the fund.Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you as a Foreigner to stand in as the owner of the money which was fixed deposited in my bank.I am writing you because I as a public servant,i cannot operate a foreign account.

I want to present you as the owner of the funds so you can be able to claim them with the help of my attorney. This is simple.I will like you to provide immediately your full names and address so that the Attorney will prepare the necessary documents which will put you in place as the beneficiary of the funds.


The money will be moved out for us to share in the ratio of 80% for me and 20% for you. The paperwork for this transaction will be done by the Attorney.

If you are interested, please reply immediately via my email address and Upon your response, I shall then provide you with more details and relevant documents that will help you understand the transaction.

Please observe utmost confidentiality, and be rest assured that this transaction would be most profitable for both of us because I shall require your assistance to invest my share in real estate within your country.

Due to the nature of confidentiality in this Transaction our communicationcan only should be via email and fax mostly.

Awaiting your urgent reply to my address above.{petatsede@tiscali.it}

Thanks and my regards.

Peter Atsedewoin.












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