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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: "Raymond Leong." <rmd_lng@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: rmd_lng@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 02:02:15 +0800
Subject: I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE

Dear Sir/Madam,
My name is Mr. Raymond Leong, the bill and exchange manager of Fidelity Financial Trust Malaysia.
I am a Malaysian married with two kids.
I have packaged a financial transaction that will benefit both of us. As the bill and exchange manager of the bank, it’s my duty to send financial reports to my head office.
On the course of the last year 2005 end of the of the year’s report, I discovered that my branch in which I am the bill and exchange manager made Three Million Five Hundred and Fifty Thousand US Dollars (3,550.000.00 equivalent of Malaysian Ringgit MYR 12,595,400.3454) of which my head Office is not aware of and will never be aware of. I have since then placed this fund on a SUSPENCE ACCOUNT without a beneficiary.
As an officer of the bank, I cannot be directly connected to this money and also a local here cannot come for the claims without being questioned and well scrutinized because of the magnitude of amount involved, thus I am compelled to request for your assistance to receive this money into your bank account.
I intend to part with 30% of this fund to you while 70% shall be for me and my colleagues. I do need to assure you that there is practically no risk involved in this. It’s going to be a bank-to-bank transfer.
All I need from you is to stand as the original depositor of this fund.
If you accept this offer, I will appreciate your timely response.
With regards,
Raymond Leong.

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