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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: Johnson Peter <johnsopeterbf@gmail.com>
Reply-To: jpjpeterbf15@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2011 03:04:18 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Hello Friend,




Hello Friend,
I am the bill and exchange manager at FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPT,In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of U.S $10.5million US dollars, TEN MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS in an account that belonged to one of our foreign customers who died along with his entire family in a plane crash.
 
Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or a business associate to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines and laws, but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim. 
 
It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this business proposal to you so that the bank can release the money to you as the next of kin or a business associate to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and I don't want this money to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed bill. Since the bank law and guideline here stipulates that if such money remained unclaimed after Six years the money will be transferred into the bank treasury as unclaimed fund.
 
 The request of foreigner as next of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and a Burkinabe cannot stand as next of kin.
I agree that 40% of this money will be for you as a foreign partner, in respect to the provision of a foreign account, 5% will be set aside for expenses incurred during the business and 55% would be for me and my Family.
 
There after I and my Family will visit your country for disbursement according to the percentages indicated and for some possible investment under your kind control.Therefore, to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to you as arranged,
 
you must apply first to the bank as a business associate or next of kin of the deceased person. Please i will like this transaction to be strictly between you and i Upon receipt of your reply, I will start by giving to you the application which you will fill and send to the bank.
 
I will not fail to bring to your notice that this transaction is that you should not entertain any atom of fear as all required arrangements have been made for the transfer and given your 100% full assurance and risk free transaction. Therefore, to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to you as arranged, you must apply first to the bank as a business associate or next of kin of the deceased person.
 
I will like you to send me the following informations.
 
Name............................
Your Country...............................
Occupation...........................
Age...................................
Your   Marital Statuts........................
Your Personal Fax N°.......................
Your  Personal Mobile N°....................
Your Sex....................................
 
Get back to me immediately with those informations i need from you, for me to process the text of application for you to apply to the bank.
Trusting to hear from you immediately,
Yours faithfully.
 
Johnson Peter

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