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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.Barry Williams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <barrywilli@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2017 16:00:03 -0700
Subject: YOUR URGENT REPLY IS NEEDED

Dear Friend,
 
This is 62 years old Mr. Barry Williams, I worked with United Bank for Africa (UBA) till my retirement years ago.  I was in my home few days ago a call came from UBA demanding my urgent attention on this matter. I was mandated to provide any relative of my late Client whom I was his personal accountant before his death. He has this deposit of $20M with our Bank unclaimed till this time of Bank audit.
As it stands now, I am unable to locate any of his relative because it has been a long event, I cannot remember much about him but I told them to give me some time to find one, at this, after ransacking my files, I was able to find copy of this fund deposit and certificate of death of my late client. With these, I was able to employ an internet engineer to search with his last name before your email was located.
Right now, I don't have time to stress myself in further searching about this guy so I have decided to front you as his next of kin to stand and claim this fund for our mutual benefits it does not matter whether you are truly related to him or not. Let utilize this opportunity to make good money for our entire generation . I need only 50% don't need much money at this age my only daughter is married to a very wealthy guy.
 
If you can handle this transaction perfectly, I will get you fronted to the Bank as the next of kin to my late client and have this funds received into your account.
If you are ready get in touch.
 
Thank,
Mr.Barry Williams.

Anti-fraud resources: