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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: "David Lambert" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lambertdavid600@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2014 03:05:30 -0300
Subject: Your Kind Consideration

DAVID LAMBERT
South Quay Plaza
183 Marsh Wall
London
E14 9SR

Dear Friend,

Do accept my sincere apologies if my mail does not meet your
personal ethics. I would like to introduce myself, I am
David Lambert and I work with the staff in the accounts
management section of a well-known bank here in the United
Kingdom.

One of our accounts is holding a balance of £48,375,000
(Forty Eight million, Three Hundred and Seventy Five Great
British Pounds) and has been dormant for some years now.
From my investigations and confirmations, the owner of this
account died on the 16th of February 1999 in an autocrash
in Birmingham, here in the UK.

Since then no one has responded in anyway with regards to
claiming the funds. As far as we can tell he has no family
member that is aware of the existence of either the account or
the funds. Information from the National Immigration Office
also states that he was single on entry into the UK.

I have confidentially discussed this issue with some of the
bank officials and we have agreed to find a reliable foreign
partner to deal with us. We thus propose to do business with
you, standing in as the next-of-kin. We will process these
funds from the deceased and release them to you, after due
processes have been followed.

This transaction is totally risk free as the funds is
legitimate and devoid of any illegal/illicit activity. Please
think this over and should you be interested, do let me hear
from you ASAP.

Regards,

David Lambert

Anti-fraud resources: