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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: "Mr. =?iso-8859-1?b?Sm9z6Q==?= Correia" <.me4personaluse@gmail.com>
Reply-To: me4personaluse@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 14:35:19 +0000
Subject: 50/50 Business Proposal.


Hello Dear,

My name is Mr. José Correia, the principal treasury officer with one
of the prime banks in Cote D'Ivoire. I have decided to contact you
through this medium based on a business proposal which will be of
mutual benefit to both of us. I discovered your email through
comprehensive web email search on directory so I decided to contact you.

I am the personal accounts manager to one of our late client, a
national of your country, who used to work with an oil servicing
company here in Cote D'Ivoire, the late client made a numbered time
(fixed) deposited for twelve calendar months, valued at
€16,500,000.00 (Sixteen Million Five Hundred Thousand European
Euros) in my branch. Upon maturity, we sent a routine notification to
his forwarding address but got no reply. After a month, we sent a
reminder and finally we discovered from his contract employers,
PETRO-CI Corporation that my client died from an automobile accident.
On further investigation, I found out that he did not leave a will and
all attempts to trace his next of kin were fruitless. I therefore made
further investigation and discovered that the deceased person did not
declare any next of kin in all his official documents, including his
bank deposit paperwork.

This sum (€16,500,000.00) is still sitting in the bank and the
interest is rolled over with the principal sum at the end of each
year. No one will come forward to claim it. According to the law of
Cote D'Ivoire, at the expiration of 8{eight} years, the money will l
revert to the ownership of the Cote D'Ivoire government if nobody
claims the funds.

On this note I propose that you as a foreigner to stand in as the next
of kin to the deceased person so that this money will not be reverted
by the government. If this request matches with your inward intention
for success and greatness, then you are urged to make a quick response
indicating your interest and readiness to participate and work with me
to make this successful. Please observe utmost confidentiality and be
rest assured that this transaction would be most profitable for both
of us because I shall require your assistance to invest my 50% share
in your country. In your return mail please do forward your
information if you are willing to complete this deal with me to enable
me put the total fund in your name for claim as the next of kin to the
deceased person:

Best Regard,
Mr. José Correia





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