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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: patrick yakowa <goffic@tim.it>
Reply-To: patyakowa@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2017 20:28:32 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: DEAR FRIEND NEXT OF KIN NEEDED BY YOU, LET ME HEAR FROM YOU

My name is Mr.Patrick Yakowa, a seasoned Banker with Foreign Trade Bank
Cambodia. I am account officer to a deceased customer of our bank, a national
of your country that shares the same last name as yours. This deceased client
of mine had heart-attack while driving along Siemreap on a business trip and
died on a hasty motor accident on the 14th of November 2011. His heart
condition was due to the death of all the members of his family in the tsunami
disaster on the 26th December 2004 in Sumatra Indonesia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake
during their holiday there and his account of US$32,890,000.00 Million with us
has been unclaimed due to unavailability of a next of kin/relatives to claim
his estate.

In accordance with the escheat laws in Cambodia as a kingdom, the board of
directors of the Bank met forth night ago and resolved to turn the estate of
the deceased over to Government having waited for too long without the
deceased
relatives/next of kin surfacing property and if this is done, invariably, the
funds will end up to become Government property and it is as a result of this
that am moved to contact you considering the fact that you share almost the
same name with 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 and I will send to you all our Bank contacts and the information's
you may need to proceed without coming to Cambodia, and be rest assured that it
is risk free project and the proceedings will be shared 50-50 each once the
fund are expatriated into your account anywhere in the world.

Please reply immediately via this mail: patyakowa@gmail.com with your
telephone and fax numbers for easy communication and oral discussion. I shall
wait for days and if I do not hear from you, I will look for another person.

Wait your prompt response immediately.

Best Regards.

Mr.Patrick Yakowa
DEAR FRIEND NEXT OF KIN NEEDED BY YOU, LET ME HEAR FROM YOU

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