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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: "Dr.Johnson William" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <drjohnsonwilliams181@gala.net>
Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 06:04:25 +0200
Subject: William

DR JOHNSON WILLIAM
THE CHIEF AUDITOR (H.S.B.C BANK LONDON).
22 Garden Close, Stamford,
Lincolnshire PE9 2YP, UK
Tel +44-11-4360-1793
Dear Sir/Madam,
 
Is my Pleasure writing to you at this moment of the day, I am Dr. Johnson William the director in charge of auditing and accounting Unit of HSBC BANK LONDON I and my colleagues deem it fit to contact you regarding to a transaction that will favor both of us at the end, and I got your contact in my search for a reputable and reliable person to help me claim the fund in question.
 
We discovered the sum of Ten Million pounds (£10.000.000,00) belonging to a deceased customer of this bank. The fund has been lying in a suspense account without anybody coming to put claim over the money since the account owner late Deceased Customer Dahlig, Mitchell, who was involved in Korean Air Line, flight number 801 with the whole passengers on 6th of Augustus 1997 plane crash) and this  money  has been lying fallow since 1997 for  transferred to your bank for our personal use .
 
use http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9708/06/guam.passenger.list/
 
The said fund is now ready for transfer to a foreign account whose owner will be portrayed as the beneficiary and next of kin to the deceased customer of the bank. Seems you have the same surname with this deceased customer you can easily make this deal with us, we will assist you to get the information of the deceased customer that will assist you to get every proof document which will help you to execute this money.
 
The foreign account owner will impost himself as the next of kin to the deceased and respond positively like a true next of kin who wishes to speed up the release and transfer of his inherited fund. If the over due fund if not claimed by the end of next quarter, the government of the Great Britain will take over the ownership of the fund in line with the Federal Edict Act of 1979.
 
We do not want the government to take over the ownership of this money, that is why I contacted you for us to do the deal together, so that we will portray you as the bonafide next of kin to the Deceased Customer .If you accept to carry out this project with us, we will offer you 30% of the total sum, while I and my colleagues involved will take 70% of the total sum. Upon your acceptance to do this deal with us, we will jointly effect the transfer within seven working days.
 
Be rest assured that, this transaction carries no risk and no extra responsibilities on your part, except the above mentioned roles and normally you will be required to maintain absolute information and absolute secrecy throughout the duration of this transaction, because discussing it with a third party might jeopardize the entire transaction.
 
I am looking forward to receiving your interesting response on this project, as this will greatly enrich the both of us at the end. You should contact me through my private email address: drjohnsonwilliams181@gala.netas soon as you receive this letter for onward procedure.
 
Best Regard,
Dr.Johnson William
 

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