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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: "ICBC CHINA" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <wanglee48@ovi.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 04:36:23 -0000
Subject: INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL BANK OF CHINA (ICBC).

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).
No.1 Jiefang Rd., Hengyang, Hunan, Yinyan.
Guangzhou China. 510100.
Website: www.icbc.com.cn
Mobile Number: +8613160835110.
Dear friend,
How are you doing today? I hope you are fine. I know my mail is a surprise to you as we have not met each other before. My name is Mr. Wang Lee, working with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). In my department I discovered an abandoned sum of US$16 million (Sixteen Million United States Dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers Late, Mr. Arthur Smith who unfortunately lost his life in the plane crash of Egyptian Airlines Flight number 990 which crashed on October 31st 1999. Please read more about the crash on visiting the below site which I got during my investigation;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/502503.stm
Since I got information about his death, I have been expecting his next of kin or relatives to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin as indicated in our banking guidelines.
Unfortunately I learnt that his supposed next of kin being his only daughter died along with him in the plane crash leaving nobody with the knowledge of this fund. It is therefore upon this discovery that I decided to make a deal with you so that my bank can release the money to you as the next of kin for safe keeping and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and I do not want this money to go back into the Government treasury account as unclaimed.
The banking laws and guidelines here stipulate that if such money remain unclaimed after 15 years the money will be transferred into Government treasury account as unclaimed funds.
I am not a greedy person, so I have decided to share the fund 50%/50% with you upon completion of this deal. I will visit your country for the disbursement according to the percentages once this money gets into your account. As a matter of urgency, you are advised to furnish me with the following information Full Name, Address, Occupation and your Mobile Number for easy communication.
Best  Regards,
Mr. Wang Lee. (International Foreign Bill Department)
Mobile Number: +8613160835110.
Private Email:  wanglee48@ovi.com
 

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