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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: "Cyprus Development Bank" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <johnpittalis@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 28 May 2016 16:37:19 -0400
Subject: ReConsent Request


<COMMENT>This is HTML source of message you composed. Do not modify here.</COMMENT>
<COMMENT>To modify this message press HTML Messages Editor button.</COMMENT>
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE></TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgcolor=#FFFFFF leftmargin=5 topmargin=5 rightmargin=5 bottommargin=5>
<FONT size=2 color=#000000 face="Arial">
<DIV>
Dear,</DIV>
<DIV>
&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>
I am Mr. John Pittalis, a senior banker in Cyprus with Cyprus Development Bank. It is with good spirit of heart I open up this great opportunity to you. A deceased client of mine that shares the same last name /surname as yours died as a result of heart-related condition on March 12th 2005. His heart condition was due to the death of all his family members who were on vacation and died in the Bam earthquake disaster on the 26th December 2003 in Bam City of Iran where they all lost their lives. More info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Bam_earthquake</DIV>
<DIV>
&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>
There is a draft account opened here in my bank since 1999 by my late client - Edward Sheldon, a national of your country. He was a geologist, a business man, a miner at EMED Mining International company here in Cyprus and also a mining consultant to several other mining conglomerates operating in china, Taiwan, Japan and Vietnam before he passed away, leaving nobody as the next of kin / inheritor of his account after his death.</DIV>
<DIV>
&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>
The fixed amount in this account is $17, 500, 000.00.(Seventeen Million, Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars). I want to present you as the beneficiary using my position and influence in our bank to make sure the bank releases this money to you for us to share. I have all the details and required information to make you the beneficiary to the funds. This transaction bears no risk. If I wait for days and I do not hear from you, I shall look for another person.</DIV>
<DIV>
&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>
Kindly get back to me for more details on Email:johnpittalis@qq.com</DIV>
<DIV>
&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>
&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>
Sincerely Yours</DIV>
<DIV>
John Pittalis</DIV>
</FONT>
</BODY></HTML>

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