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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: "Martins Williams" <martwills@msn.com>
Reply-To: williammartin12@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 17:37:47 +0000
Subject: From The Desk Of Dr. william martin ,

From The Desk Of Dr. william martin ,
Union bank of Nigeria ,
ILupeju Branch,
Lagos,Nigeria.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Dr. william martin , Branch Manager with Union bank of Nigeria Lagos,
Nigeria. I have an urgent and very profitable business proposition for you
that should be handled with extreme confidentiality. On January 6, 1998 a
Foreign Consultant and contractor with the Nigerian Railway Corporation Mr.
Abbas Gumeri by name made a numbered time Fixed Deposit for twelve Calendar
months valued at US$15.6M (Fifteen Million, Six Hundred United States
Dollars Only) in my branch.

Upon maturity I sent a routine notification in accordance with the Bank
Policy to his forwarding addresses but got no reply. After a month we sent a
reminder and finally we discovered from his contract employers Nigerian
Railway Corporation that Mr. Abbas Gumeri died from an automobile accident.
On further investigation, we found out that he died without making a Will
and all attempts to trace his next of kin were fruitless. I therefore made
further investigations and discovered that Mr. Abbas Gumeri did not declare
any Next of kin correlations in all his official documents including his
Bank Deposit paperwork in my Bank.

This sum of US$15.6M has been carefully moved out of my bank to a
Financial and Security Company in Europe for safekeeping. No one will ever
come forward to claim it and according to the Law of my country, at the
expiration Of 7 years the money will revert to the ownership of the State
(Government) If nobody applies to claim the fund. This prompted us to
contact you. We want you as the next of kin of our late client thereby
making you the legal beneficiary of the sum of $15.6Million U.S Dollars that
is presently in a Financial and Security
Company in Europe.

I contacted you because it is against our code of Ethics to own and operate
foreign accounts and your assistance would be Needed to claim the money in
the Financial and Security Company in Europe. We have unanimously agreed
that 25% of the entire sum would be for you if you agree to take part in
this profitable Transaction, 65% for me while the remaining 10% would be
used to pay back The expenses that may be incurred during the course of the
transaction by both parties after the Fund has been claimed and lodged in
your account. In the event that you are genuinely interested in the
transaction, the following information would be needed from you to expedite
action

1) Your Full Name.
2) Your Residential or Company Address.
3) Your Private Mobile, Telphone and Fax numbers

Where you can be reached at all time because this transaction entails
Constant communication. The transaction is 100% legal and totally free of
risks as all Modalities have been perfected to ensure the hitch free
successor the transaction. If you are interested, send the requested
information via email:(william martin12@yahoo.co.uk) as soon as possible so
that we can proceed and after sending it urgently.

Best Regards,

Dr. william martin


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