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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: Farah Mehdi <nik.sint@btinternet.com>
Reply-To: farah_mehd01@voila.fr
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:23:22 -0800 (PST)
Subject: CONTACT ME FOR MORE DETAILS.























































































Good day,
 
I am Mr. Farah Mehdi,a Banker in one of the reputable Bank in Burkina Faso.I have decided to contact you on a business proposal of  $3.5M(Three million Five hundred United States Dollars).
 
The depositor of the said fund died with his entire family during the Iraq war in 2006.The deceased customer used his wife as the next of kin but unfortunately,The wife died along side with him leaving nobody for the claim.
 
According to our Banking law,If the fund remain unclaimed for three(3)Years then the fund will be transfer into the reserve Bank of Burkina Faso as unclaimed Bill i don't want the fund to go into the Bank treasure and as such,let us claim the fund now.
 
I want to present you as his cousin or business partner so that the Bank will transfer the fund into your Bank account for us to share it.your percentage will be 40% while 60% will be for me.
 
As an insider in this Bank,I assure you that,this transaction is 100% risk free.if you are willing for the deal,contact me for more details but if you are not capable,Please notify me.
The transaction will take us only 14 Banking days.Nobody knows keep the secret within you ok.You must keep this deal as secret for the security of the fund.Do not disclose this deal to anybody because i want the secret to be between us only.
 
I will give you the text of the application to fill and send to the Bank for the release of the fund into your Bank account on the receipt of your message.i will be monitoring the whole situation here in the Bank until you confirm the money in your Bank account and ask me to come down to your country for subsequent sharing of the fund according to percentage indicated above.
 
You can see the news in BBC and CNN regarding their death:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/10/11/iraq.deaths/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6040054.stm
 
Finally,I want you to indicate your Bank account details where the fund will be transfered to:
 
I will be glad to hear from you as soon as you received this message as to enable me give you the application to fill and send to the Bank.
 
Best regard,
Mr.Farah Mehdi.
Bill and exchanged manager.

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