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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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Please note about this email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Dr.Francois Tankpirou" <drfrancoistankpirou@msn.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 19:39:13 +0000
Subject: ACT AS NEXT OF KIN / CALL ME + 229 878845

From Dr. Francois Tankpirou
Bank Of Africa Benin
235 Toppa Road Cotonou
Republic of Benin.
Private / Highly confidential
Attn: Sir/Madam
 
I am Dr. Francois Tankpirou Bank of Africa Benin. I am writing following an opportunity in this bank that will be of immense benefit to both of us.
In this bank we discovered an abandoned sum of  10.5 million British Pounds Sterling (Ten million five hundred thousand British Pounds) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers Late Dr. Morris Thompson an American who unfortunately lost his life in the plane crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 which crashed on January 31 2000, including his wife and only daughter. You shall read more about the crash on visiting this site.
 
Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin or relatives to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines. Unfortunately I learnt that his supposed next of kin being his only daughter Sheryl Thompson died along with him in the plane crash leaving nobody with the knowledge of this fund behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I and one other officials in this bank now decided to make business with you and release the money to you as the next of kin or beneficiary of the funds for safety keeping and subsequent disbursement since nobody has come for it and we don’t want this money to go back into Government treasury as unclaimed bill.
 
The banking law and guidelines here stipulates that such money remained after five years the money will be transferred into banking treasury as unclaimed funds. We agreed that 30 percent of this money would be for you as foreign partner, while the balance will be for me and colleague. I will visit your country for the disbursement according to the percentages indicated above once this money gets into your account.  Please honesty and trustworthy is our watchword in this transaction.
Note this transaction is confidential and risk free.  As soon as you receive this mail you should contact me Immediatelly on my telephone number + 229 878845 or by return mail at my Private Email. drfrancoisboa@yahoo.co.uk Please! Please! I pray your urgent response. Call me immediately if you are ready to claim this fund. Send immediately, your full Name, Address, Private phone and Fax number to my private email address so that we can proceed with the preparation of some legal documents making you the Next of Kin to Dr. Morris Thompson and the beneficiary of this fund. We will discuss much in details when I do receive your response. Please call me + 229 878845.
Best regards
Dr.Francois Tankpirou

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