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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. David Howell" <dhowell@lloydsbankinggroup.com>
Reply-To: dhowell1930@videobank.it
Date: Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:34:25 +0100
Subject: INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR INHERITANCE FUND..



Attention:

SUBJECT MATTER: RE-INHERITANCE FUND CLAIM?

I am Mr. David Howell, a citizen of Wales, a computer analyst with Lloyds
Banking Group. I am 45 years old, just started work with the above bank. This
piece of information is intended to inform you of the discovery of certain
hidden loopholes in the release of your fund. I came across a related payment
file in your name with Bank of Scotland PLC before its merger with Lloyd's
Banking Group.Your file was marked X and your fund release hard disk painted
red, I took my time to study it and found out that you have really
attempted to
receive your fund but it has so far not been release to you. The most annoying
thing is that the directors and top officials of this bank refuse to tell you
the real truth that on no account will they ever release the fund to you;
instead they ask you to bring this sum of money or the other without any
meaningful result.

I sworn with my life that I do not intend to work here all the days of
my life,
I can release this fund to you if you can certify me of my security and can
always maintain absolute confidentiality after the transfer of the
fund to your
account. If anything happens to me now, I will be seriously in trouble and my
life will be in danger.

The only thing I will need to release this fund to you is a special hard disk;
we call it (PF-HD220GIG). I will buy two of it, recopy your
information, destroy
the previous one, and punch the computer to reflect in your bank
account within
48 banking hours. I will clean up the tracer and destroy your file,
after which,
I will resign my appointment from here and plan to meet you either in
your home
Country or wherever you suggest we meet for my own share, but you must
assure me
of your absolute confidentiality of this deal before I can go any further.

Do get in touch with me immediately. You should reconfirm your current
information's as follows:

1. Your Full Names:
2. Current Contact Address:
3. Current Mobile Number:
4. Active Bank Account Details.

If you are interested to know more about this information, do find
your time to
reply me or you can still call me on +44 701 113 7797.

Regards,
Mr. David Howell,
Chief Computer analyst
Lloyds banking Group, London.

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