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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: "LIM SWEE TEE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <victorwang67@imail.com>
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2015 14:43:37 +0800
Subject: INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY!!

Good day!

I am Mr. Lim Swee Tee, an attorney practicing here in Singapore. I was an attorney to Mr. William Lee a businessman here in Singapore; unfortunately he died after a brief illness.

The reason I am writing you with this message is not because of his death but to let you know that he has a deposited fund of US$45M with Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) unclaimed. At the moment the bank is asking me to come with any of his family member to claim the fund being his attorney but unfortunately I could not locate any of his surviving family members. According to the bank if I cannot present any of the deceased's family member for the claim within their time frame, they will release the fund to the government coffer as inline with the government monetary policy on decease estate laws. Owing to this mandate given to me, I have done everything humanly possible to locate any of his family members still alive but all my efforts proved abortive so I decided to channel this message to you, asking for your interest in taking advantage of this opportunity with me.

My primary interest to strike this deal with you is because you are from the same country of birth of the decease which will make it easy for me to position you for the claim. If interested to cooperate with me, We shall have a fair sharing ratio of 60%/40%. You will get 40% while 60% goes to me. And due to my profession, I will like to invest my share in any good legitimate profit oriented business in your country by your assistance.

I look forward to hearing from you soonest so that I can give you more details.

Best regards,

Lim Swee Tee.

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