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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: "MR.CHEN GUAN" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <chen.guan77@hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 8 May 2010 17:47:32 +0100
Subject: Urgent From Bank of China {Reply Now} !!!

I am Mr. Chen Guan, financial director, Bank of China.

Our Client, Gen Zaiki Taha Abdel, a businessman and also who was with the Iraqi forces, made a fixed deposit, of Seventeen million Three Hundred Thousand United State Dollars only in my branch, a number of notices was sent to him, before the war which began in 2003 and also after the war but, no response came from him. We later found out that the General along with his wife and only daughter had been killed during the war in a bomb blast that hit their home.

After more inquiry it was also discovered that the late Gen. did not declare any next of kin in his official papers including the paper work of his bank deposit. What bothers me most is according to the laws of my country at the expiration of 6 years the funds will be revert to the ownership of the Hong Kong Government if nobody comes for the funds, Against this scenery, I have all the information needed to claim these funds and I want you to act as the beneficiary of the deposit, there is no risk involved in this matter, as we are going to adopt a legitimate method and the attorney will prepare all the necessary documents. All I require is your honest co-operation and I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please click reply to this message to contact me directly.

Please accept my apologies and keep my confidence.

I await your prompt reply on this.
Kind Regards
Mr. Chen Guan
E-mail:chen.guan17@gmail.com

Anti-fraud resources: