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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 Allen Ledge" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <allenledge@nycmail.com>
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2017 04:54:25 -0700
Subject: Your reply 2

Dear Friend

My name is Mr Allen Ledge. I work in the credit and accounts department of a bank here in the USA . I write you in respect of a foreign customer with Domiciliary A/C number 6402356789. His name is Late Mr. Lam Kok . He was among those who died in a plane crash some time ago.

Please follow the link to read more about his story : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-Europe-25476662

Since the demise of this our customer Late Mr. Lam Kok , who was a Business merchant/contractor, I have kept a close watch of the deposit records and accounts and since then no body has come to claim the money in this a/c as next of kin. He had only USD$18.5million in his a/c and the a/c is coded. It is only an insider that could produce the code or password of the deposit particulars. As it stands now, there is nobody in that position to produce the needed information other than my very self considering my position in the bank.

Based on the reason that nobody has come forward to claim the deposit as next of kin, I hereby ask for your co operation in using your name as the next of kin to the deceased to send these funds out to a foreign offshore bank a/c for mutual sharing between myself and you. At this point I am the only one with the information because I have removed the deposit file from the safe . By so doing, what is required of you is to send an application laying claims of the deposit as next of kin to the late Mr. Lam Kok.

I will need your full name and address telephone/fax number,company or residential, also your bank name and account,where the money will transfer into. So that i can computerize them totally with next of kin column in the certificate of deposit.

Finally i want you to understand that the request for a foreigner as the next of kin is occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and for that reason alone a local cannot represent as next of kin. When you contact me, then we shall discuss on how the money will be split between us.
Trusting to hear from you,

I remain Respectfully yours,


Mr Allen Ledge.
Tel:1-641-583-7112

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