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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: "JAMES HANS ." <jameshans@lawyer.com>
Reply-To: jhans@kimo.com
Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2011 15:44:08 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: REPLY NOW




JAMES HANS SOLICITORS
2 Whit More Gardens
London, NW10 5HH


Attn:

I am JAMES HANS , a legal practitioner based in United Kingdom, I feel
quite safe dealing with you in this business

proposition, although this medium (Internet) has been greatly abused, I
chose to reach you through it because it

still remains the fastest, surest and most secured medium of
communication. Be informed that this letter is not a

hoax or Scam mail and I urge you to treat it with the seriousness it
deserves.

I am the personal attorney to Robert Fitzpatrick, an American who was a
consultant with Shell UK LTD here in

London, who shall be referred to as my client. Unfortunately my client
lost his life aboard Egypt Air Flight 990,

which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on October 31st, 1999
(news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/502503.stm) and

left no clear beneficiary as Next of Kin except some vital documents
related to the deposit still with me. All

efforts by me to trace his Next of Kin proved abortive because he did not
make any will prior to his death.

Since then I have made several inquiries to locate any of my late clients
extended relatives and this has proved

unsuccessful. After my several unsuccessful attempts to locate any member
of his family hence I contacted you. I am

contacting you to assist in claiming the money left behind by my client
before they get confiscated or declared

unclaimed by the security company where this huge deposit were deposited.
Particularly, the finance company where

the deceased had the said fund valued at USD 20 million dollars has issued
me a notice to provide the next of kin.
Consequent upon this, my idea is that we can have a deal/agreement and I
am going to do this legally with your name

as the bona fide beneficiary of the amount in question as I have all legal
document to back our claim.

I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased so
that the proceeds of this account valued

at $20 Million US dollars can be paid to your account abroad, note that
35% of this money will be for you, in

respect to the provision of a foreign account and 55% would be for me as I
have planned to come to your Country as

soon as the transfer is completed, 10% will be used for the reimbursement
of any expenditure we may incur in the

cause of the transaction.

I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that
will protect you from any breach of the

law, all I need from you is your utmost collaboration and sincerity for us
to thrive in this deal.
Please kindly get back to me through my email address or personal phone
number for confidentiality and send to me

your telephone and fax numbers to enable us discuss further on this
transaction.

Kind regards,

JAMES HANS .

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