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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: "Sokunthea Kong" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <loandept80@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2015 11:29:51 +0700
Subject: Urgent Response Needed

Hello.

Please, however strange or surprising this contact might seem to you as we have not meet personally or had any dealings in the past, I humbly ask that you take due consideration of its importance and immense benefit. However, this is not mandatory nor will I in any manner compel you to honor it against your will.

My name is Sokunthea Kong, Head of Business Financial Services with one of the banks here in South-East Asia. I discovered recently a dormant account which belonged to a deceased customer of our bank. The account of the deceased with us has been unclaimed due to unavailability of next of kin/relatives to claim the fund. In accordance with the escheat laws here, the bank will turn the fund of the deceased over to Government having waited for too long without the deceased relatives/next of kin surfacing and if this is done, invariably, the funds will end up to become Government property and it is as a result of this that I decided to contact you considering the fact that you are also a foreigner as the deceased.

In view of this, am seeking your cooperation and understanding to stand as the deceased next of kin to enable us claim the inheritance before the period given by the bank elapse. If you are interested and in agreement with me, get back to me quickly for more details on how to work this out.

All modalities for the claim of this fund have been put in place and I am using this opportunity to assure you that the process is entirely risk free.

I await your prompt response.

Sincerely,

Sokunthea Kong

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